Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist - 12 (END) + Final Thoughts

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The last episode of Makai Ouji is finally here, bringing with it a battle scene between Solomon and the demons.

Basically, once William puts on the ring and becomes Solomon, he goes a little crazy.  If we remember from the previous episode, he sort of starts attacking a bunch of demons for no particular reason other than to display the amount of power he has.  (Only Baalberith actually attacked him before he started mowing so many demons down, recall.)

What’s particularly interesting about Solomon’s awakening is that he doesn’t appear to remember Dantalion.  Given Dantalion’s obsession with Solomon, and given the many flashbacks we’ve seen in which Dantalion and Solomon are together, this fact seems odd.  And, unfortunately, it’s never fully explained in this episode.  We can infer that Solomon’s lack of recollection about Dantalion may have something to do with the fact that Dantalion was the one to kill Solomon in the past, but why would that cause Solomon to forget about him completely?

Again, I’d like to mention that Dantalion’s reaction to Solomon is interesting.  Throughout Makai Ouji so far, he has said more than once that William is Solomon, and has been clearly uneasy at William’s inability to remember things from Solomon’s past.  Now that Solomon has reawakened, though, Dantalion is adamant that he is William, and not Solomon.  I understand that he doesn’t want to have to kill Solomon again, but claiming that he is William and not Solomon goes beyond that.  This seems like a complete contradiction that requires further explanation which, again, we fail to receive in this episode.

For a finale, this episode fell a bit short for me.  While there was resolution in relation to Solomon’s reawakening, there wasn’t really any resolution in relation to anything else that’s been going on in the show.  We still have no idea what the forces of Heaven have planned.  We still have no idea who (if anyone) William will eventually elect as interim ruler.  And there were plenty of cryptic occurrences in this episode that got absolutely no explanation (i.e. Solomon willingly taking off the ring when he realizes Lucifer has awakened).

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Final Thoughts

The ending of Makai Ouji definitely leaves the possibility for a second season.  While I can see this episode as an ending to the series, it would be a very unsatisfying one.  There are several questions that were raised throughout the season that didn’t get anywhere close to being answered.  For example, what happened to William’s uncle?  His bankruptcy and subsequent disappearance are what sparked virtually every event in the show so, although he has never made an appearance in the show, he is an incredibly important character, if only through his absence.  One would think that the reason for that absence might be a worthwhile avenue to explore.

While this episode also gives us quite a bit of backstory on Solomon, there too we have plenty of unanswered questions.  Why did Solomon originally subjugate the 72 pillars?  What was his plan before Dantalion gave him the idea to get revenge on his father, King David?  Did he just subjugate the pillars (as my assumption is, anyway) because he was lonely and wanted friends?  On top of that, what exactly does Solomon “understand” when the doors to (what I assume is) Lucifer’s chamber open?  What about that whole event makes him realize he should stop what he’s doing and take off the ring?

There are questions about the demons’ pasts, too.  Who was Dantalion before he became a demon?  What did he do that made him capable of becoming a demon?  What led him to kill Solomon in the past?  And what about Sytry?  How did he fall from Heaven?  Is there anything more to Gilles de Rais’s past with Jeanne d’Arc?  Will we ever find out who Camio’s mother is?  (Is it even important?)  What sort of relationship does Lucifer have with Solomon?

There’s also a lot from the manga that the anime is missing.  Several characters (who seem to be pretty important in the manga) have been nowhere to be seen as of yet in the anime.  We’ve only seen three angels so far (Kevin/Uriel, Raguel, and Michael), while the manga has at least half a dozen.  Several of the angels that have been left out also seem pretty important to the plot (i.e. a power struggle in Heaven).  But there are other, more human characters, as well (whom I will not name here to avoid spoiling anything), who are missing from the anime that seem important to the plot.

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All of that said, the manga is still ongoing, so the potential for a second season is there, given enough popularity and all that.  Basically, my final thought on Makai Ouji is that the series is woefully incomplete without further explanations to the several questions that still remain.