Kiwaguro no Brynhildr (New manga by Elfen Lied's creator)

She survived by teleporting out of it. Simple as that.

Regarding Hatsuna, note that her being one of those seven Red Shirt witches is a change made by the anime. In the manga she is an escapee like Neko and co. who just happened to be found by Mako. But yeah, introducing her so late in the anime seems kind of pointless… in the manga she will probably have some development later, but in 3 episodes, in an arc where she doesn't really have much relevance in the first place…?

For that matter, I note that they no longer even try to be subtle with the censorship. Big ol' censor bar out of nowhere this time.

And… hum, I guess the Valkyrie arc will have a different conclusion in the anime, considering how long it was in the manga… Between Kotori's abduction, Hexenjagd, the reveals about the Drasil and Grane, Freya, and Neko vs. Mako… there is just no way they can stuff all that in two episodes.

Concerning the relationship between Neko and Mako, I wonder… I too thought that there was some cloning involved at first but considering Mako is considered the "big sister" of the two and that, as said above, Neko was always human, that seems implausible. But we'll have to learn more to be sure…

And finally, there is one thing I can't quite understand: that scene where Chisato slaps Mako and she instantly goes from "I WANT TO KILL YOU SO BADLY" to "SORRY I LOVE YOU!"… at first I thought it indicated a Split Personality (one who wants to kill him, one who loves him), but she no longer bears any hostility to Chisato after that, so… err…

edited 16th Jun '14 2:45:22 AM by Lyendith

She teleported herself......way up in the air? Then again, she may be crazy op, but she doen't seem all that bright.

That makes sense about Hatsuna though. Maybe they wanted to introduce her on the off chance it sells well and they get a second season or something?

I assumed it was some sort of Stockholm Syndrome type thing for Chisato. It's nice that there was at least some reason they would think they could let her out.

I'm not sure what the lab guys are thinking however. Clearly the whole "send out witches" thing isn't working to well. A single mundane assassin with a tranq gun could pretty much capture any witch they wanted.

@KSPAM: I'm anime only, my clone comment was just a guess.

That fucking censor bar. That MOTHERFUCKING CENSOR BAR.

Holy fuck, I can't understand what's going on because of it.

The manga actually has the secret evil organization do something like that. So one can conveniently assume that they were sending witches out not only to catch/kill the escapees, but also for gathering data as researchers are wont to do. (But of course the real reason is so the author can pit superpowers against superpowers.)

So right off the bat they reveal Kotori is 1107.

Good plan, but she isn't a normal witch.

So while he is standing there being a generic villain, Kotori could switch places with Mako and Neko could knock her out.

Everyone should have seen that one coming.

Yay ghost exposition.

Wow he is just a complete ass.

who they hell are these guys.

that was a smooth as fuck escape I'll give him that.

and Murakami is dead, wonder how they are gonna reverse that.

Considering the color of his skin and all the bleeding, I'd say it is more than 'his heart just stopped' Oh but she can heal other people now. And she melts.

No freaking way should that have worked.

Wow no one wants to keep witches alive, bummer. and one day all witches will be man eating alien monsters... as if shit wasn't bad enough for them.

So humanity was created by aliens and Kotori has the special alien that will melt everyone on the planet. And they drop this bomb 2/3 through the second to last episode. We aren't gonna get any sort of resolution are we?

Unless that happens...

… Wow, they somehow managed to actually stuff all that in one episode. —'.`— They even managed to give Freya a cameo. I was pretty sure they would flat out remove her. Except it feels like a wikipedia recap now… you know that feeling when you find a plot pretty cool but when you try to summarize it in 3 minutes suddenly it just sounds dumb? That's this episode in a nutshell.

I felt amazingly nothing during Hatsuna's "sacrifice". It feels like the animation's quality has also taken a breathtaking drop these last two episodes.

Also… did they actually kill off Hatsuna ò.Ô That was useful…

So yeah, twas a pretty bad episode.

Really, they should have gone with the Skadi arc instead of trying to squeeze the Vakyria arc in 3 episodes… it just doesn't work… or else they should have made a different ending altogether.

edited 22nd Jun '14 4:21:53 PM by Lyendith

So Mr. Evil White-Haired Guy is basically Gendo, then. Using freaky apocalyptic aliens of doom to revive the only exception to his universal sociopathy, plus the frequent meetings with the Omniscient Council of Vagueness.

And I can't believe I just realized this series is about witches who are highly prone to melting.

Hey Murakami, feel silly about looking for aliens yet??

I have no idea who you people are.

I guess the magical null is...sustained?

Oh, so THAT's who they are. Kinda makes sesne that they would exist. Doesn't explain why they are dressed like that however. When was the last time you saw a nun in anime who wasn't a badass of some sort? / What is the connection between Val and Neko anyway?

So Chisato fed his paralyzed daughters brain to an alien with the idea that it would give her a new body....and it didn't work. So he'll move the alien to a new body. How the hell would that fix anything?? I'm hoping for some karma at least.

I wonder if the killswitch won't work bc life finds a way.

I think she was already dead though. Also, it was his sister.

So, uhh.... Hatsuna and Murakami are dead (in the anime)?

Prepare for the Gecko Ending, man. I suspect Chisato will take the bullet like in the manga, Kotori will get mercy killed like in the manga, and Valkyria will die after a prolonged fight with Kuroha.

There's also the revelation that all humans have that weird alien in their bodies, and Vingulf decided to experiment with the ones who discovered those powers. There isn't a lot of room left for the anime, which sucks because they may end up just pulling out a Downer Ending or No Ending.

edited 24th Jun '14 12:01:15 PM by Serocco

So...

• Mako has a soft spot for Kuroha. And Kuroha's true power activates by essentially dying.
• Ryota was so dead. Hatsuna wasn't gonna let that happen, even if it killed her!
• Finally you Hexenjagd guys appear. But, it's kinda late, don't ya think? And why does that guy with glasses remind me of Rubel?
• So, witches are doomed either way. Death by melting, death by outright killing, or death by alien takeover? Decide! Kazumi was sent through the ringer, by the way.
• Um...Is Kana in danger? It looks like Hatsuna's alien's about to hatch or something...
• Darn Chisato, you're very cold. and crazy. And he pulled a Maximillian, and Mako's totally Selvaria. Bet she'll perform a final explosion or something.
• Kotori's a world-ender? Great, her chances of living got even lower...

I'm just realizing this now. Of course Hatsuna and Nanami weren't going to live for long...because their names don't start with K.

And darn it, I'll never, ever get used to the new OP the show suddenly decided to throw in near the end of its run. At least the visuals are good...?

… I had never even noticed the K names. Well, that didn't save Kotori though…

And yeah, a new opening 4 episodes before the end is… huh? And precisely, I think the visuals of this opening are the problem. If you put a goofy music like that, it needs to have visuals-on-drugs as with Death Note.

Yeah, we got Kuroha, Kotori, Kazumi, Kana... only Nanami and Hatsuna don't have names with a K.

edited 26th Jun '14 11:49:04 PM by Serocco

OK, OK, we get it. So why couldn't they be friends with Keiko again?

Honestly, the first OP was far better. I liked the creepy visuals also. This one is...meh.

Hum, just a question… is the manga weekly or monthly? Since the chapters are 20 or so pages, I thought it was weekly, but chapter 104 came out a while ago already…

edit: Oh, just as I'm writing that, I realize that chapter 105 is already out.

edited 27th Jun '14 11:10:30 AM by Lyendith

How was chapter 105?

It's weekly.

Actually, 106 has also also been translated (in spanish). It feels like we're still in the beginning of this new arc, building things up. Kana's certainly going to be at the center of this one.

I'm kinda laughing at how that one guy from Vingulf that got shot in the head at the end of the Skadi arc somehow survived, even though the bullet apparently circled in his brain several times with the aid of magic. Contrived Coincidence to the max! Classic Lynn.

Hum… not much happens, I guess? We get a little flashback of Neko and Kana when they were in the lab, and the girls being as stealthy as ever at school. We're in the middle of a transition phase, which isn't surprising after such a big arc.

Huh? Where? … oh, I forgot, we can't give links here. —'.`—

edit: Read chapter 106… how do say "bullshit" in Spanish?

edited 28th Jun '14 11:01:18 AM by Lyendith

So the last episode is out, and I spend my time going 'This is stupid' about a whole bunch of different things.

• Valkyria kills Kazumi instantly, but takes her sweet time killing Murakami so that he can be saved.
• Sudden miraculous discovery about making the pills… despite the fact that since there's only two of them left, and Hatsuna's secret supply is still a thing, they could've lasted the month it was supposed to take.
• Kana teleporting from the observatory to the lair. And who the hell pressed her button?
• Neko's ill-defined god powers. That she'd get a power-up was set up, but the fact that this power-up basically amounted to 'omnipotence'… no thanks.
• Chisato suddenly deciding he cares about Valkyria enough to sacrifice his life for her. Despite freely admitting to not giving a damn about her a minute before. Despite the fact that he laughed off the dying request of his sister- the one person he actually does care about.
• Micro black hole is a terrible idea, Neko. While it's vaguely possible that that could contain an antimatter explosion, it would also make everyone in the area die horribly in a different way.
• Don't look so surprised at Neko dying, Valkyria. You were just about to blow her up.
• So those church people sure backed down from killing Neko and Kana. Would've been nice to have some kind of explanation for that.
• What the hell? Why are Kazumi and Hatsuna alive again with no explanation? Hatsuna melted, and Kazumi was cut in half. What the hell's the point of killing them like that if you're just going to randomly bring them back?

And that's just the important stuff. Lots of other minor stupids happened as well.

Sheesh, I don't think I'm even going to bother watching the anime ending if they made everything so nonsensical. There's a context for all the things you mentioned, but for whatever reason they must have been cut out.

edited 29th Jun '14 12:42:32 PM by Crinias

The whatever reason is called Compressed Adaptation. That's still a pretty bad case, that makes the worst episodes of the Umineko anime look decent. At least Elfen Lied's anime ending kind of made sense, despite not concluding anything (as far as I remember at least?)…

As for the micro-black-hole… well, considering how this series treats physics from the start, I don't really mind.

There is at least one thing that makes sense in this ending: Kana in a wheelchair. Seriously, it mystifies me that the only thing that affects her in the manga after years of paralysis is a slight lack of endurance…

edited 29th Jun '14 1:52:21 PM by Lyendith

the dude making the pills has no idea whether it is relevant or not. Hatsuna presses Kana's button, there was weird shit going on with her at the end of the last ep so I guess her powers are stronger than we thought. I have no explanation for Kana appearing there though. No mention of that flying kick? Cuz that was pretty sweet. Mako says she wants Neko to watch Murakami die as punishment, so that is why she didn't insta-kill him. The Chisato thing was really stupid and out of character. Mako's powers were pretty OP, and awakened Neko was supposed to be beyond that. Mako has laser beams, Neko has shield, Mako can create antimatter, Neko can creat a black hole. I wouldn't say Neko's powers are just unbelievable and out of no where given Mako. Though black holes and antimatter do not work that way. The antimagic kid was out of commission, I think the church decided with all the antimatter and black holes going on it was time to get the fuck out. I'm guessing Hatsuna healed Kazumi, she prolly went with Kana to the house. It is still an ass pull, but at least it is an explanation. Overall there was a lot of shit that just wasn't made clear and a few ass pulls, but I don't think it was as bad as Gilphon made it seem. Still not a great last episode though

edited 29th Jun '14 3:24:59 PM by jedi1113

To be clear, not all of the stuff I said above was in the 'this makes no sense' category; it was mostly 'this is really dumb and contrived' sort of stuff.

I was really fuckin' nervous about what'd happen in the last episode... and it looks like I was right to be worried. Too much was overlooked for the sake of having a Hollywood ribbon tied at the end.

I mean, yeah, I like that it has a happy ending, but Gliphon broke down all of the bad stuff regarding the episode, and I don't need to elaborate further. I'm really glad the manga provided better explanations for whatever the fuck happened here.

Although, I gotta say, Ryouta drop-kicking Chisato was fantastic. Unfortunately, Chisato's random Redemption Equals Death moment was also in the manga, under the same general logic - he acted on emotion rather than logic, despite giving no reason as to why he'd ever protect Mako.

Also, Hatsuna's Healing Factor is the reason she survived and revived Kazumi, but she can't revive witches who are hung up.

So, I gotta ask on behalf of anime-only viewers. What happened with Skadi and post-Valkyria in the manga?

edited 30th Jun '14 10:48:18 AM by Serocco