The first season of Tengoku Daimakyo is officially behind after yesterday’s finale which some may have found underwhelming. But, the truth is that the final episode served as a way to spark hope for the sequel. With just the right amount of hints and tying some of the loose threads, it left us wanting more – especially with that final scene.
Tengoku Daimakyo never shied away from heart-wrenching moments and this episode was not an exception. We got to see two parallel stories: children escaping from the nursery (Shiro saving Mimihime) and Maru rescuing Kiruko. It’s interesting to note that both of these situations ended with a love confession at the river bank. Both marked a beginning of a new journey and the visual story-telling successfully managed to highlight their connection even more.
I was hoping we would get answers to some of the pressing questions from the previous episodes but that was not the case. While I do agree that it was partly underwhelming, I can’t say that it was not good. The seasonal anime format works for most popular titles but in some special cases, where the story as a whole comes first such as here it can fail and leave the viewers wanting more. We don’t know where the Heaven is or what happened to Tokio and most of the other children, we don’t know what Robin’s end game is and what he wants to do with Hirukos and we can only guess which baby Tokio was given in the end. Tokio’s final words of the episode also stick with the viewer: what are she and Kona? But one thing that this episode subtly confirmed is that Mimihime and Shiro are indeed Hoshio and Usami.
For me, Tengoku Daimakyo anime felt like a labor of love. The staff took a well-written and thought-out story and made it into something both visually compelling and properly told. The fact that the fandom spent weeks coming up with theories and looking for clues says enough. I loved seeing Kiruko and Maru’s relationship grow, regardless of its status, and I enjoyed getting to “know” Mimihime and Tokio. Anime like this don’t come often and that is why Tengoku Daimakyo deserves all the praise.
Tengoku Daimakyo is streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.
© Masakazu Ishiguro, Kodansha / Tengoku Daimakyo Production Committee
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