Platinum End episode 13 kicks off the show’s second cour in a turgid, boring fashion. After ending its first cour on a cliffhanger, the show starts off with… yet another cliffhanger. Seriously? The plot hardly progresses in this episode. What is revealed here is more of Metropoliman’s backstory and his absolutely insane manner of thinking. And the most heartbreaking thing about this episode is how it truly ruins Metropoliman and in a way hammers home the final nail in his figurative character coffin. Let’s talk about it in a spoiler-filled discussion.
Metropoliman’s sister
The full extent of Metropoliman’s backstory is revealed in Platinum End episode 13. It’s explained that he cared about his sister’s purity very deeply, wanting her to not get “defiled” by the ugliness of the world. By ugliness, he of course is referring to people in poverty. His backward view of society fuels his desire to keep his sister unblemished by the harsh reality of the world.
This all comes falling apart when she reveals to him that she was asked out by a boy in her class. This is unacceptable for Metropoliman, and ends up causing his sister to fall off of a tower. She doesn’t die but remains encased in a sort of cryo-sleep thanks to her brother. These are the events that lead Kanade to want to kill himself, but before he can, an angel comes down, and you know the rest.
So yeah, Kanade comes off super creepy in this episode. His interactions with his sister in the past are extremely uncomfortable to watch, and the way he views and talks about this underage girl rings so many alarm bells. This makes it so hard to empathize with him, and further distances him from the viewing audience. Instead of making him a more compelling character, all this does is further paint Metropoliman as a villain that’s cartoonishly vile.
Metropoliman doesn’t understand economy
And this is without even mentioning his ridiculous rant directed toward the poor and unfortunate in the society. Beyond displaying an incredibly poor understanding of the economy, Metropoliman gets robbed of yet another opportunity to resemble some sort of actual person, and further hammers home the idea that he’s an irredeemable piece of garbage. He boldly claims in front of the world that his plan when becoming God is to eradicate all the poor and ugly people in the world. He reasons that this will lead to equality in society, where everyone can be beautiful and rich.
So essentially, this episode solidifies Metropoliman as someone with a creepy, borderline incestual affection for his dead younger sister, and a passionate hatred for the poor and the ugly. It’s such a shame to see how far Metropoliman has fallen, especially since I truly believe that at the beginning of this series, he could have really been a great villain.
The best villains are those that feel like real people. No one’s saying Metropoliman couldn’t have been evil, but the problem with him is that he doesn’t feel like a real character anymore. He has no redeeming qualities that make him compelling to a viewing audience. All he resembles now is a whacky caricature of what the writers of the story deem to be “evil” that Mirai and his friends have to find a way to stop. It’s truly tragic to see and hammers home another example of the writing on the show being nothing short of disappointing.
Yet another cliffhanger?!
The most disappointing thing about this episode truly is the lack of progression on display. Mirai and Metropoliman essentially spend the whole episode playing a game of chicken with each other, where nothing really happens. Given that the bulk of the episode is dedicated to Metropoliman’s backstory, little time is left for the characters to actually do anything.
However, the episode then chooses to end on another baffling cliffhanger. From cliffhanger to cliffhanger, it feels like the episodes of Platinum End are taking turns promising that the next episode will deliver something good. It’s needlessly frustrating, and eventually, the show has to deliver something. Hopefully, the next episode will do just that and provide some semblance of entertainment for its viewers.
Platinum End is streaming on Crunchyroll and Funimation. Episode 14 will air on January 14th, 2022.
© Tsugumi Ohba, Takeshi Obata/Shueisha, Platinum End Production Committee
