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Tokyo Ravens Episode 24
What They Say:
Memories from the past mix with the present as Harutora tries to bring Natsume back from the dead.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Tokyo Ravens has operated the last few episodes without Natsume as one of the players in it, though she’s been a big motivating factor. Her death is one that has Harutora moving heaven and earth to try and bring her back, which had him nearly going dark for a moment and showing the others just how far he’s willing to go to achieve his goal. It’s admirable in its own way, but it’s been interesting that the show finally felt like it had a purpose. So much of the second half of the series has felt listless that by killing one of them off and going on a resurrection quest, they actually feel like they’re doing something now. Sadly, we’ve gotten a lot of adults in the mix that have their own ill formed agendas that in the end seem like they distract more than anything else.
With the action focus, events do move quickly here as everyone is rallying towards the goal and that has Harutora and Kon going up against Kagami of all people, making for some slick sequences and a bit of drama along the way with how they all start suffering at the hands of the adults. Part of the fun here is seeing how the relationship between Harutora and Kon has grown and that the two really are well bonded to each other, going the distance when in need without it being completely one-sided. Kon’s been the fun part of the show since just after his introduction, since I was really not liking the idea of introducing familiars here since it could go in such a wrong way, but it was largely kept to a limited approach and that made it a lot of fun as it progressed to what we get here.
As it unfolds, we get past all the action and into the agreement phase of things, which kind of settles a lot of the things that had been going on for so long with the sides vying for position and power. But in the end, it’s all about Harutora and Natsume and seeing that brought back to where it needs to be. It takes an interesting approach as everything is agreed to and we instead get the supporting cast of friends taking the end walk for the show where our leads aren’t able to participate, but they all kind of unify in a way. It’s a bit anticlimactic in a way and while it does work on some level, it also leaves you feeling surprisingly empty about the whole resolution and what it means rather than being uplifting and positive. Which isn’t a good way to end a show like this after all the struggles it had.
In Summary:
I don’t know exactly where Tokyo Ravens lost me, but lost me it did as it moved along. I really liked the series in the first few episodes and was interested in what it would do once it moved to Tokyo, but the further it went along, the more adults it introduced and more subplots that became a part of it that were revealed, the less interested I became. Largely because of execution but also because it simply couldn’t balance and manage it all. The cast grew, but became less interesting. The action was well done, but it lost meaning. And the heart of the show with Harutora and Natsume was weakened with her death, and the way it spent several episodes without her and gave us a weak ending overall. I had a lot of hope for the series but it simply wilted away as time went on.
Grade: C
Streamed By: FUNimation
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.