Welcome back all you Samurai Rabbit fans! It’s been a long, long journey over just 10 weeks. Who would’ve thought a show based on a beloved and excellent comic would be like pulling teeth to watch by the end? Not me. Let’s get this over with so I can get back to reading the better, more rich source material. Ikuzo!
And as always, spoilers ahead.
1. Who Framed Miyamoto Usagi?
As I suspected the whole time, Miyamoto Usagi’s legendary betrayal of the Shogun turns out to be…well, true but also the Shogun was a yokai the whole time? Or turned into one because he was a tool of the evil interdimensional claw hand? And so Usagi killing him wasn’t bad at all? And the Yokai being trapped was an accident because the Ki-stone was damaged but why didn’t Usagi repair it and why did it suck up all the Yokai and how did Usagi figure it all out and-
OK. Okay. Stopping the spiral.
While I continue to love the animation in these sequences, the twist that really wasn’t a twist of Yuichi’s ancestor being innocent hit about as poorly as every other reveal in the series. Not only was it a muddled mess, as evidenced by above, but stretching it out for ten episodes, especially over these last two-to-three, was a bad, bad move. It was a big nothing burger! I would’ve been more shocked if Miyamoto trapped the yokai on purpose even after being shown many were good.
Imagine that as the twist. After idolizing his ancestor, then being disillusioned with him, he finally sees him as a whole person who made mistakes while trying to do good. We kind of get that ending with his relationship to Karasu Tengu but there’s no reflection, no nuance. Just vindication that he was right all along. It’s a kids show, sure, but that’s no excuse when other shows aimed at the same audience are able to convey the same ideas in an age-appropriate and clear way.
2. Yokai Yawn-o
I have to reiterate that this was a dull, dull finale. After introducing a whole new conflict in episode 9, they don’t even do anything with it! There’s just a portal in the sky, some robots come out after the mid-way point like the second stage of a boss, and the rest of the time has the main cast faffing about trying to find Auntie so they can fix the ki-stone with the jewel in the sword.
Why the Ki-stone didn’t show Yuichi the stone’s importance right away when it CLEARLY had the power and consciousness to is a mystery to me. Why the writers paced it this way is Ki-stone clear. It’s frustrating to sit through. The show squanders all its potential every time it has an interesting idea, even if the idea was introduced poorly. If you’re gonna swerve at the last second, commit to the swerve! Instead it’s just more of the same and the same wasn’t that great to begin with.
3. Kogane
I do want to say some positives about the finale. I enjoyed more of the fights than I had previously, mostly because they were kinda silly and the show knew it. They knew to button up certain scenes from the premiere, like the bounty Gen was after, and at least something was happening, even if those somethings were literally roadblocks between Yuichi and his goal. The robots in the final fight also got a chuckle out of me; murder bots with corporate customer service trees. Gotta love ‘em.
My favorite of all the weird fights was with the big sword wielding guy. I dunno why it got me. Maybe something about its self-awareness? I kinda liked the haunted stool scene too but at that point I was so done with the artificial stoppages in the story that I couldn’t appreciate the silly googly-eyed creature.
Kitsune & Tetsujin are also wonderful and every scene they share is a gem. And how could I forget us getting more Lord Kogane. Always more Lord Kogane.
4. Yuichi & Chizu: Curse of the Were-Yoyo
Can I gripe about the entire climax? I know I’ve already done it a bunch but the actual climax of this finale is so rote and by the numbers that I genuinely could not believe they were doing it with sincerity. Usagi gets the piece of the Ki-stone and is able to fix it but to do so had to stab the Clavis with it and is taken out by the blast. He’s down and everyone thinks he’s dead and they don’t even try to take his pulse or check to see if he’s breathing or what and Chizu starts crying and then he’s fine and the whole thing takes, like, 45 seconds.
Continued belowIt was at this point I was like: “At least there’s only a couple more minutes left.”
It’s a scene that was put in because the writers thought they needed even more artificial tension instead of, I dunno, giving him an injury or just skipping the whole fake-out altogether. Like, Usagi has kinda sucked this whole time, even if he was getting better, and I don’t get why Chizu would be the only one this sad. I guess the idea is that she loves him? I don’t buy it but whatever.
Really what this scene does is illustrate the failings of the show’s storytelling and character development. It’s as lifeless as Yuichi’s stares and as pointless as the Bat Clan’s presence.
5. Samurai Rabbit Down
So…that’s the show. I don’t have much else to say about it that I haven’t said already. Well, I guess I can talk about how it baits a sequel season I really have no interest in seeing at the end and how Kitsune, much as I loved her, was the most underdeveloped of all the crew and that’s saying something. I’m sure I’ve been too harsh on this show because I’m not the target audience – i.e. elementary school children – but there are so many better shows for that age group.
It’s anodyne, though. It’s 5 hours of time that I’m not getting back but I’m also not mad I watched it. OK I am mad but only because the potential of this series was so squandered by its production and writing. Perhaps I’d have been more forgiving of its simple narrative had the animation been better. I don’t know. All I know is I’m disappointed but relieved to be done.
…Wait, I need a second season so I can finally meet Bargain Bunji DANG IT!
