Guin Saga

[Buffalobiian]

Finally, the long-overdue closing episode. I guess I shouldn't complain since [frong] was the only one who stuck with it to the end. Seriously how is it that Sacred Blacksmith gets 5 groups following it while only one man struggles over the finish line for Guin Saga?

Anyway....

It's funny. Even though Istovan is clearly not cut to be a worthy adversary for Guin, in every way it still had the "final showdown" feel to it. A large part of that is due to the feeling of inevitability. Since his introduction, Istovan's been outshone by Guin in every way except escaping from prison and knowing the towns. Rinda never cried for him like she did for Guin, and his attempts to make himself a king turn sour every time while Guin knocks everything down left,right and center without even trying. All that bottling up has got to burst sometime, and burst it did.

It's not as if Istovan's improved over the course of this series at all, but his (arrogant) expressions and actions seem justified in a manly, frustrated way; finding no way out for himself other than to confront the very thing that keeps overshadowing him. Pulling it off the wrong way could have turned it into just another jealous kid throwing a tantrum, but it didn't happen. I wonder if those words at the end were the rest of his prophecy that he never tells anyone.

(I had to laugh when Guin declared Istovan's ambitions as (mere) dreams)

One thing where Guin Saga's lost points is that sometimes things happen in a manner that is best described as random.

Akura in the salt pillars, why it resides within him, the ship of light that sweeps him away, assassins that take orders from a lizard,.....etc etc.

I understand that this is all meant to introduce us to an entirely new, breathtaking world that spans over 100 books, but expressing so many seemingly meaningless(at this point) head-scratches whose dots don't actually join, given the plot, it does leave us a bit hanging.

I would have added Remus's random mage-exposure/personality-change to the list too, if they never flashed that skeletal face on screen one final time.

In general, I found the plot lost its momentum halfway through when they started focusing more on the political stuff, introducing characters from all over the world and moving away from Guin's journey a bit. Guess that can't be helped neither since they wanted to expand our view of such a large world in relatively little time.

Even so, the pros greatly outweight any cons. The animation's been good when it counts. Guin is as badass as ever with his falcon punch.

The soundtrack is a pure delight to listen to, thanks to Nobuo Uematsu. Dramatic, enchanting, brilliant. ~This is my Road couldn't have been a better ending for this.

Definitely one of my top fantasy series.