The last episode was a paradigm shift if we’ve ever seen one, and Platinum End Episode 15 marks the end of the previous arc and a beginning of a new one. Let’s see what the show has for us now in this review!
Platinum End Episode 15 Overview
Platinum End comes to us by the writers and creators of Death Note and Bakuman, Takeshi Obata and Tsugami Ohba. As if that wasn’t enough reason to get excited about this show, it is being directed by two prominent people in the anime industry. As it is a two-cour series, its first part is being directed by Hideya Takahashi, who has previously directed JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 5. The second part is directed by Kazuchika Kise, the animation director behind Your Name and Neon Genesis Evangelion.
The series is being produced by Studio Signal.MD, the studio behind several well-known anime such as Recovery of an MMO Junkie and Mars Red. If you’d like to catch up on our review of the fourteenth episode, you can do so right here!
– Platinum End Episode 15 Review does not contain any spoilers –
Platinum End Episode 15 Review- New Era, Same Old Stuff
So, Death Note is a pretty good show, am I right? It feels cheap to go into that barrel again, but it is not for comparison this time, so it should be fine. If you’ve seen the show, you probably recall that the series changed drastically around two-thirds of the way in. The show switched alignments and competitors and was barely recognisable after a certain point. In some opinions, including mine, the show became unwatchable after that point and lost everything that ever made it good in the first place.
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The point that changes everything happened at the end of the last episode in Platinum End, as we saw the deaths of both Kanade and Mukaido. Kanade had been the show’s primary antagonist and everything that the main characters did revolved around his actions. With his death and no concrete personality to take his place, the show had a big void as it had to rebuild an entirely new purpose for our characters.
So, in the face of such a huge challenge, Platinum End Episode 15 did an admirable job in moving the plot forward. The first thing that anyone notices while watching a show is the opening theme. In a fantastic decision, the likes of which you wouldn’t expect from a generally incompetent show, the magnificent opening of the first cour was kept around. There were some new visuals and tiny modifications, but it was the same song- Sense by Band-Maid. It is a fantastic song, and I’m glad that the show kept the one good thing it had going for it.
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The new direction seems to be one with less action and more mind games, which is fine. We already know that the creators can write a good story of that variety, and it’s not like the action was any good anyway. The new conflict revolves around the kid who struck metropoliman with a red arrow and now holds all the cards in this confrontation. He is an interesting character as he hasn’t been set up as a true antagonist but a force of chaos. Chaos is always fun, which this show desperately needs more of, so I’m all for it.
Mirai is still a bad protagonist, and you can probably believe it, but his first thought after seeing a man die to give him a happy life was, “Was it okay if he saved my life by killing someone”. The man isn’t even buried yet, you numbskull. Respect the man’s actions, especially if those actions resulted in a miserable git like you living to see another day. At least the angel politics returned, which are always nice to see and a good part of the show. Platinum End Episode 15 wasn’t as bad as the second part of Death Note, but almost nothing is, to be fair.
Verdict
Platinum End Episode 15 marked the start of a new direction for the show, and it was good for what it was. The show handled the transition well, and the new characters look promising. We have had two good episodes in a row now. Is it even the same show?
Click here to read the review of the next episode!