More than once I’ve pointed out that anime characters reviewing their own show or commenting on events in a self-aware manner, doesn’t make a poor plot or poor character choices more interesting. Platinum End sets up a situation so ridiculous it is hard to believe this week when Mukaidou just leaps straight into the trap set by the crazy guy from last week.
Sure you might believe he’s all freaked out because his family are at risk. It is literally the only motivation this character has been given. But still, how does entering an obvious trap with no plan save them? Seriously, bad plan.
Anyway, the crazy guy watches this unfold and then just as I’m face palming so hard I nearly knocked my glasses off he points out how hilariously stupid the whole situation is.
Platinum End continues to underwhelm with plots that could have been pulled from the original Batman TV series.
Platinum End is definitely leaning hard into the cackling villains, noble (yet idiotic) heroes, overwrought emotions, and eye-candy use of female characters that all come from a TV era long since past. And while I don’t actually like the current trend in stories where every character has to literally quip their way through the whole plot, watching Platinum End kind of reminds me that there are worse things than characters refusing to take life and death situations seriously.
For instance, Mirai still can’t actually shoot his white arrow with any actual intent and when faced with a difficult fight and uncertain victory he chose…
Well, he chose to walk into the same trap Mukaidou was already caught in and instead of going in with any kind of plan decided to put the whole thing off and suggested they fly around frantically like birds in a cage until they came up with a better idea.
Good thing Metropoliman didn’t rig this location to explode like the last one or it really wouldn’t have mattered.
As for Metropoliman, rather than thinking of literally any way to bring the situation to a close (you know like blowing the whole venue up) he simply leaves the crazy guy to watch over them and takes a nap.
Platinum End, what are you doing?
This guy plans out everything and is ruthless enough to shoot a child who had already surrendered to him and now you expect us to believe he’s just going to take a nap while the two people who have caused him the most harm are trapped in a single location?
About the only thing that makes this episode not entirely terrible, is Revel.
After all his efforts to absorb knowledge mostly end in him getting a headache he tries to talk Saki out of going and getting herself killed and in the process manages to shed tears.
While he isn’t acknowledged for his efforts to learn stuff, apparently being the first angel to cry for a human is significant enough to warrant a promotion.
So Platinum End gives Saki her wings.
And so she puts on her cat suit, shoots the crazy guy with the red arrow and then instead of giving him a command or instruction, she flirts with him, because… look I don’t even know at this point.
It isn’t as if anyone else has had to flirt to make their red arrow work.
Clearly they just wanted the girl in the cat suit to look all coy.
Meanwhile she hasn’t communicated with the others what is going on so they are still just flying around. After almost a day.
If I’m honest, this episode of Platinum End is no worse than any other but it continues to baffle with how ludicrous each of these characters are and how poor their decision making is. Onward to the next episode then.
The full review for Platinum End Episodes 1 – 12 can be found here.
Images from: Platinum End. Dir. K Kise. Signal MD. 2021
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Karandi James
And that’s why I dropped it after 3 episodes.
That may have been the better option in the end. Though at episode 3 there was still some hope it would find its feet.