Well, finally decided to watch the final 8 episodes or so.

This was a great shounen series, and I have to say it was consistently well animated, I may even go as far as to say that it was the best animated shounen series I've ever seen... so even if the story wasn't the best, though decently good, the animation for me more than makes up for it.

Concerning the final arc, there were some minor changes to the manga, like Tokine doesn't go to Kakuborou, so everything that happens in there with her is made up, though most events do occur, just with different characters involved, etc. One part that I missed from the manga was when Sen first finds Kaguro with Yoshimori and with his sensing ability he becomes scared shitless... showing how dangerous the dude is. I don't remember Kaguro's past from the manga, so I liked that the anime went into it. As to when Yoshimori was unconcious, obviously Tokine had no part in saving him. If I remember correctly, Masamori was able to break through with his Zekkai... but with quite a bit of trouble.

Though, when Yoshimori gets rescued by Tokine is quite a bit more touching with them showing some emotion and development of their feelings toward each other. When Yoshimori gets back, Tokine actually gives him quite a beating for going by himself in the manga... though you can tell she was really worried for him, etc. With that said, he gets a good slap after they leave the dimension just the same, though I think she did more in the manga or maybe I'm just making shit up... who knows?

Kanami and the old man were awesome as always, but my favorite always Shion. Aihi I also liked, and I wonder if she survived, or at least capable of being reborn with the seed Shion saved... I thought the flower when she "died" that reached her loved one was a nice touch. Speaking of Shion, it was awesome how she took control of Hekian. Cool scene in my opinion. The Princess was quite an intriguing and interesting character, I thought she would've deserved a bit of more screen time.

Hopefully we'll get a second season and see more of some of these guys, especially Shion and the Princess (if she was able to get away from the Castle). Though, looking at it, it's safe to assume that she didn't get away and just disappeared with the dimension. The final scene between her and Byaku was nice too, especially when they ceased to exist with the dimension. With that said, there's more than enough content to continue the series if it's ever decided to do so.

For those interested in the manga, the anime itself was quite loyal to it, so you can just pickoff from where the anime left off. According to mangaupdates, the anime ended on volume 13 chapter 121. But as always, I always recommened you at least pick it up a couple of chapters before that just in case. Here's a thread to discuss the manga for any of you interested:
http://forums.gotwoot.net/showthread.php?t=15572

Anyways, great series... hopefully a sequel is on the planning stages because this certainly deserves it. For whatever it's worth, it was a good ending... but certainly the story continues, hopefully they do.

One thing I enjoyed quite a bit was how they alternated the ED episode to episode... it was somewhat refreshing.