Yeah for VE the action was the weakest part and derailed the message for me. I liked it better when it was a story of recovery from war but the struggles with the programing the military has to do to soldiers in order for them to fight in war and how they try to deprogram and find their place in the world. When the story was just about that it hit hard. The idea she was a supersoldier because she had zero humanity or emotions and thus could kill without a second thought for the mission was the point. Not that she was somehow a superhero that the action scenes undermined.
spoiler
It was bullshit that the captain was alive at the end when the whole show was her dealing with him being gone and moving on. It was such a copout and made him look like an asshole for not reaching out.
Indeed, her dealing with her own emotions as well as helping others do it was really what was so good. As you say, the ending wasn’t to my taste either. When she wrote that final letter to Gilbert at the end of the series I was so moved I could barely see the screen through my tears. And it really fit perfectly, she started by writing a letter, she ended by writing a letter and in that letter she really wrestles with everything. The very end kind of cheapens that moment a bit for me. But overall I find it a very good anime and I just kinda disregard the ending personally haha.
Yeah for VE the action was the weakest part and derailed the message for me. I liked it better when it was a story of recovery from war but the struggles with the programing the military has to do to soldiers in order for them to fight in war and how they try to deprogram and find their place in the world. When the story was just about that it hit hard. The idea she was a supersoldier because she had zero humanity or emotions and thus could kill without a second thought for the mission was the point. Not that she was somehow a superhero that the action scenes undermined.
spoiler
It was bullshit that the captain was alive at the end when the whole show was her dealing with him being gone and moving on. It was such a copout and made him look like an asshole for not reaching out.
Indeed, her dealing with her own emotions as well as helping others do it was really what was so good. As you say, the ending wasn’t to my taste either. When she wrote that final letter to Gilbert at the end of the series I was so moved I could barely see the screen through my tears. And it really fit perfectly, she started by writing a letter, she ended by writing a letter and in that letter she really wrestles with everything. The very end kind of cheapens that moment a bit for me. But overall I find it a very good anime and I just kinda disregard the ending personally haha.