Classroom Crisis comes to an ending with a fairly respectable final episode. I really liked how all the narrative/character/thematic pieces came together in this one – it felt very gracefully composed, which is honestly something this show has often struggled with. There were cute moments and fist-pump moments and some nice silly faces, and overall this finale didn’t quite manage to match the show’s best moments (namely the Nagisa-Kaito and Nagisa-Mizuki conversations from the last few episodes), but still ended things in solid fashion. Of course, it apparently couldn’t end without one more dip into stupid animeisms, so obviously the ending was set up as introducing a possible love triangle between three of the leads. Win some, lose some.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below!
Contrasting the beginning of Kaito’s presentation to Mizuki confronting Iris several hours earlier
“It’s got nothing to do with you.” “Of course it has to do with me.” Another strong core conversation, as always
A-TEC managed to vastly improve their engine operating under 70% budget cuts, meaning their new engine is actually affordable enough for mass production. Nagisa’s constraints have shifted A-TEC’s dreams from indulgent fantasies to world-changing realities, and brought life to the original dream of Kirishina – aerospace development
The CEO challenges them, saying it’s all theoretical, and that they need to demo it to prove A-TEC’s worthwhile, and not just Kaito
But Kaito’s got the trump card – footage of Iris saving Nagisa
Back in the morning, turns out the whole team was listening in on Mizuki’s conversation, waiting to set up the flight
Mizuki’s riding with her
Selling A-TEC on the achievement of hooking the X-3 up to the classic ship and making it work
An echo of the first episode, too – a race against time to save Nagisa. A nicely composed narrative tie-off
The music’s really great in this reunion between Nagisa and Iris. Solid scene in general
Mizuki being shocked at their reunion, and then shaking herself to stay upbeat
They’re disbanded, but they’ve already got other investors on the line
Kaito gets his big damn hero moment. “We refuse to acknowledge your way of doing things!” lol
CEO raises the thankfully not-forgotten point that Kirishina still owns the X-3
Man what an episode. I was frankly impressed by the decision to break free from Kirishina’s grasp by broadcasting the rescue and thus attracting the attention of investors. This and other blows at Kazuhisa (Nagisa’s name on the resignation letter) were really well thought. Not everyday we see a final showdown in a meeting room.
Overall this show was a blast, my favorite of this season. I was delighted to see that the story has potential for a sequel, hopefully it will continue sometime in the future.
Yeah, bar that love triangle set-up, it was pretty much Everything I Want, which I am happy to be seeing more than I used to. The love triangle set-up felt like one of those “Shitting on Previous Emotions” thing due to how it undermines the strength of the Nagisa-Mizuki romance coming together, much like reviving a character I had genuinely been sad about their death. But eh, I’ll let it slide because it’s cute.
But as an economic student, the message from Kaito does strike true with me. Especially as an accounting student, since all we’ve been focusing on is the company business and micro-economics, thus small focus on customer as a person and nothing more than a source of revenue that must be kept happy and happily gives money to us. Economic Development students might have it better, but due to the focus on GDP and other economic indicators, the general populace is treated not much better than in Management and Accounting. Seeing it from the internal company makes it much stronger than it would have outside company like how it is usually done. I really really appreciate how true the theme and message is in the field, especially when it is treated and presented right. It’s something it can be proud about at least.
Overall, yeah it has been a rather inconsistent ride full of compromise, but eh, the weak moments isn’t unbearably bad that it makes me want to just stop watching or start skipping, and it achieved great stuffs when it finally got going, so hey, at least they tried and managed some success, more than many others could say
Yeah, I ended up with a generally positive impression of the show. “Inconsistently succeeds in very worthwhile goals” definitely works for me.