Graviton City

Project A-ko 4: Final

This is the final installment in the four-part A-ko series, which spawned the two part "battle" series spin off, and thankfully it is a terrific send-off! After the disappointing second movie and the slightly better than average third movie, the fourth is well and truly an anime classic. In a return to the plot development and suspenseful story line of the first movie, the fourth finishes the series in wonderfully melodramatic style. More a movie about character development and closure than comedy, "Final" is the perfect end.

The opening scenes seem very disjointed, jumping from place to place, setting the scene, and building suspense. Once the title appears however, the movie settles into its pace, and the story unfolds.

The first major scene shows A-ko and B-ko battling it out in their daily punch-up with C-ko and B-ko's flunkies cheering for their respective friends. Miss Ayumi looks on from the classroom with a distant look on her face. "It's quiet today" she says as a missile explodes nearby. Then from behind her, Mr Daitokuji appears and presents her with a bouquet of flowers and a proposition.

The proposition begins one of the major plot points for the movie: an arranged marriage for the lonely Miss Ayumi, to a familiar character from the past. When A-ko and B-ko discover who the groom will be, they cannot stand by and let the wedding go ahead. C-ko, however, is feeling more and more left out. A-ko and B-ko seem too consumed with their own issues to care about her, and despite C-ko's best efforts they seem completely unaware of her.

While this is happening, an alien fleet, consisting of thousands of ships similar to the one in the first movie, approaches the earth. When the fleet and the wedding meet, the earth stands still as C-ko must make a decision that will affect all of their lives forever.

The balance of suspense, humor and most importantly character development make this a very strong movie, better in some respects than movie one. Where two and three were simply "let's do this to the girls and see what happens" type plots, the director decided to make a big deal with "Final". Miss Ayumi is featured throughout this movie, and we begin to see a little more of her character and what makes her tick. A-ko and B-ko fight over everything, not realising that they are alienating C-ko, and the consequences of this turn out to be too horrifying for them to face.

The music in this movie is different from any of the others, ranging from dramatic symphonic pieces, to excellent Japanese renditions of a couple of favorites from movie one. The voice acting is finally almost on a par with movie one. The actors finally settled into their roles, and validated their voices as truly belonging to the characters. All that is except for C-ko, who is unfortunately still painful to listen to. The art is truly exceptional, and in a few scenes it appeared that the director experimented with some slight variations in character design, portraying familiar characters in unusual lighting and situations.

The humor content of the movie was perhaps the biggest departure from the series. While movie one was spot on, and two and three seemed to try too hard at times, "Final" almost seems to put the comedy in the back seat to the story. If there has to be a trade off between the two, then I think the best balance was found. The panty shots, and other A-ko stereotypes are scarcer, but the strong story makes up for that.

The ending to the movie is probably the highlight of the entire series. While there were many memorable moments in the other movies, the melodrama of "Final's" ending is truly brilliant. For some it may be too serious for a comedy, but personally I feel that it in some way "validates" the series as serious anime.

What could have been a dramatic turnaround in style and incredibly "black" ending is saved by what could almost be an "optional extra". I have to admit, I am not sure if the optional ending was necessary, as the melodramatic ending is typical of the Japanese epic, and so contradictory to the Hollywood hapily-ever-after, but I guess it would have left too many people with a bitter "they can't end it like THAT!". I suppose the optional ending could be ignored if you prefer.

If that paragraph totally confused you, watch the movie and read it again :) hehe

In conclusion, "Final" is a terrific ending to the series. It is quite a different movie from the others in many ways, but this is undoubtedly a good thing. Even if you never saw two or three, you really should see four. Of course you will probably be saying to yourself "who's Kei?".