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R2 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Monday, 07 April 2008 16:00 |
 Elemental Gelade comes to an end, and surprises me by being an enjoyable and half-way decent ending to the series - not really what I was expecting after the first volume. Humble pie, anyone..?
22 - The Buried Legend
Edel Garden and Chaos Choir are one - the Choir are wanting Ren to inherit the throne from their ailing Queen, Eve, and they're quite prepared to sacrifice Cou's life - or anyone else's, for that matter - to get their way. As Cisqua and the others are on the verge of defeat, a fleet from Arc Aile arrives, ready to take on the Choir themselves, and the Choir members are forced to retreat for a while to regroup. Cou has been seriously injured in the battle and needs medical attention, forcing Cisqua to turn to her former Arc Aile colleagues for help. Back in Edel Gardens, the Chaos Choir prepare the residents for the assault they know will come...
23 - The Promise
Cisqua arrives back at Arc Aile, carrying with her the evidence of past co-operation between humans and Edel Raids beyond just fighting and hoping to persuade her superiors there to call off the planned attack on Edel Gardens - but she may already be too late. Cou and Ren, meanwhile, continue their journey to the Gardens - but as they get closer, they realise that the Arc Aile attack has already begun. By the looks of it, the whole of Arc Aile's fighting forces have been committed to the attack - and they're losing against the determined efforts of the Chaos Choir, their Sting Raids, and the Edel Raids of the Garden. Finding themselves deep in a warzone, will Cou and Ren ever make it to Edel Gardens together..?
24 - Edel Garden
Ren may have been hoping to end the war when she agreed to go with Chaos Choir, but her decision has only made things worse - buoyed by having the Reverie Metherlence on their side, the Choir's forces have counterattacked with renewed vigour, and the human forces are facing defeat. In an effort to get Ren back, Cou, Rowen and Kuea finally manage to reach the Gardens - but once there, they still have to find Ren, and time isn't on their side. Cisqua has at least managed to persuade the Arc Aile council to call off their attack, but as ever the decision may have come to late. Back at the Garden, Cou and the others find the place almost deserted - it may once have been a beautiful paradise, but that's no longer true, and it appears as though there are very few Edel Raids left. The life of Edel Raids is bound to their Queen - and with Eve's life drawing to an end, so is Edel Gardens. The only thing that can save them? For Ren to take the throne...
25 - Chaos Choir
Orfus has killed Cou - Cisqua, Rowen and Kuea have witnessed her doing it, Ren and Eve instinctively know it's happened, and Chaos Choir are another step down the road on their plan to become the rulers of humanity. On the ground, the battles continue, with some still waiting for Cou to rescue Ren and return to them - but perhaps that's not now going to happen. Or perhaps it will - Cisqua remembers the legend from the stone tablet she took back to Arc Aile, about humans and Edel Raids chanting together to produce healing and miracles - could this be a way to ressurect Cou? While Orfus and her lackeys complete the ritual to make Ren their Queen, Eve herself pays a visit to Cou's body, and is able to save the boy. But will he now be able to save Ren..?
26 - The Song for the Sky and Tomorrow
A powerful attack by the Choas Choir girls blows Cou away from the throne platform - and when the smoke clears, he finds that Ren has Reacted with Orfus and her colleagues. It's clear from her face that Orfus is the one in charge of the combined entity, and with the power of four Edel Raids now in one fighting body the end result appears to be of limitless power. While Cisqua and Rowen try to solve the problem with force (and Cisqua's continued over-reliance on trying to re-seal Ren), Cou believes that the memories of the girl he knew are still inside Ren - if only he can get them to return to the surface...
Five episodes of a mostly all-action finale here, and while there are one or two twists in the tale there's nothing so surprising that it would catch you off-guard - especially if you've been watching anime for a while. The key storylines revolve around Ren, who agrees to go with Chaos Choir in an attempt to save Cou's life and stop the war but soon finds out that her new subjects aren't to be trusted; and the Arc Aile mob, who despite their supposed "Edel Raid Complete Protection" mission now seem to have gone on a kill 'em all spree in response to the threat posed by Chaos Choir. Peaceful co-existence doesn't really seem to be on the menu.
On one level, this works out quite well - the battle scenes are well-presented and, while none of the main characters actually die, there are some moments where you begin to think that one or two people may just be knocked off - there's certainly a real threat posed in some places. The show also does a good job of making sure that any lingering story threads are all tied off - even if that means that characters that haven't been seen since, oh, episode one get a brief cameo appearance to let you know how things turned out.
On the other hand, there are some inconsistencies in the behaviour of some of the characters. Apart from the ease with which Arc Aile goes into total-destruction mode, Cisqua's very quick to decide that the solution to all problems is simply to seal Ren away. Given what we've seen of her character over the course of the series, that eagerness just didn't ring true, and lowered my otherwise high opinion of her.
Otherwise, though, there's not too much to complain about. It's all decently well-done, well-presented and - shock! - even enjoyable. Back when I wrote about volume one, I was rather scathing on that point - mediocre, in idea, presentation and characterisations, [with] no real surprises, and the core cast are mostly just "there", I wrote. A lot of those criticisms are still true - but somewhere along the way, the series finally began to "click" with me, and it became a lot more enjoyable. I suspect the Viro episodes had a lot to do with that, but there's more to it than just one character, and while I can't say that I'll be raving about the show or recommending it to all and sundry, given its (enforced) chance, its charms did eventually get to me. A little.
Elemental Gelade got better as it went on, and while it's still never going to set the world alight, this final volume is a decently enjoyable ending to a story that turned out to have more charm than it initially let on. Some good characters, some moments of danger, and an ending that has a feel-good buzz about it combine to save the series from the mediocrity it had looked destined for early on - still far from being an essential purchase, but if you've got the time to give it a chance, worth a rental.
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