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R2 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Monday, 15 September 2008 16:00 |
 Gravitation's final volume is here, and with it the resolution to the on-again, off-again relationship between Shuichi and Eiri. Although they've been yo-yo'ing between each other for so long that I'm not sure I'm really interested any more. Are there happy endings in store for Shuichi and Bad Luck, or is disaster just around the corner..?
9 - The Deepest Brain
It's early days in the rivalry between Bad Luck and the newly-reformed Nittle Grasper, and so far at least Bad Luck are holding their own. Not that such things are top of Shiuchi's and Hiro's concerns, though. For Shuichi, Eiri's continued cold attitude towards him - despite them officially being back "together" - is still the source of a lot of uncertainty that affecting his mood. Which means that it's time for his manager to take some direct action (involving a sniper rifle) to make sure that Eiri starts acting like a lover should...
10 - Heads or Tails
Shuichi's not at all pleased with Hiro's decision to quit the band, but his friend's showing no inclination to change his mind. As far as he's concerned, the band should be able to continue just fine with Shuichi and Fujisaki - he's taken his stand, and he's sticking to his decision. Shuichi also has to deal with the problem of all the media attention, which is making it difficult for him to see Eiri, while it seems as though Ayaka hasn't given up her hopes of being with Eiri just yet...
11 - Secret Day
Bad Luck's good luck seems to be going from strength to strength, with their debut album soaring past 1 million sales and their public profile getting better and better. Hiro's looking forward to his promised date with Ayaka, and Shuichi's all keen to share the good news with Eiri - except that Eiri's in hospital after collapsing after coughing up blood. Stress seems to be part of the problem - and with Shuichi being one of the sources of that stress, Eiri's reconsidering their relationship. Again. But Eiri's hiding a secret from the past this isn't helping his stress, while Touma seems to be pulling the strings behind the scenes again...
12 - Breathless
Shuichi returns to Eiri's flat to find Eiri gone, and despite his best efforts to track him down there's no trace of the author. Seguchi has the answer to the mystery, though: Eiri's gone to get away from the stress and pain that being around Shuichi puts on him. Even he isn't aware of where Eiri's gone to - but even if he did, he wouldn't be about to reveal that information. He's quite clear that the whole situation is Shuichi's fault, and isn't backwards about laying on the blame. Hiro, meanwhile, is beginning to wonder if his budding relationship with Ayaka is going anywhere
13 - Got it All
Whatever happened when Yuichi and Takano passed in the corridor, Yuichi can no longer speak - which presents a problem, the Bad Luck's first tour about to get underway. The band can hardly perform if their vocalist can't sing, after all. Having to be quiet for once does give Yuichi a chance to get back to song-writing, though. In New York, meanwhile, Eiri's taking the time to revisit his past in an effort to remember what happened the night he killed his mentor, but all the while he has thoughts of Shuichi on his mind...
There are several points on this disc where you just want to take Seguchi outside and give him a proper kicking - between trying to do the best for Nittle Grasper and for his record company, he walks all over Shuichi, using the ongoing issues he has with Eiri as a route to cheap publicity. While it works and gets the band the extras record sales they want, it's a thoroughly callous way of dealing with someone - and just possibly a fairly good representation of the real record industry. Not that I would know.
Between assorted shootings and killings and emotional trauma, the story is quite heavy going for a lot of the time, here. There's a determined attempt to lighten the tone by having Shuichi break out the daft cosplay suits in a number of scenes, or by turning heartfelt searches into slapstick routines, but while that does raise the occasional giggle it also breaks the flow of what could otherwise be some touching scenes. The series just can't seem to decide if it's going for serious or funny, and I wish it would.
While I can point to this problem or that problem, though, at least we get all the show's plot threads properly tied up - Bad Luck's search for the big time, Hiro's budding relationship with Ayaka and Shuichi's feelings for Eiri all get their payoffs, with the bulk of the focus being on the latter - as it should be. Eiri has some real skeltons lurking in his cupboard that have been hinted at before but never discussed, and getting them into the open goes a long way to making his aloof and erratic behaviour a lot more understandable.
Decent ending for the series, then, although it's not a show that ever really grabbed me - while it tells its story in a competent-enough way, it also doesn't do anything to make it really outstanding. A series based around a band would benefit from them having a repertoire of more than one song, for starters. Gravitation won't make anyone buying it regret the purchase, as it's far from being actively bad, but there are plenty of more worthy shows out there at the moment.
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