Zetman - 12

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So that was just as messy as the previous episode.

Now that the anime has entered the final 2 episodes I'm going to assume that it has deviated from the source material and has come up with a new ending of sorts; a mere observation and not a complaint about deviation from the manga but I gotta say, couldn't they have made it a tad bit less depressing

I do understand that the whole series has a lot to do with pain, suffering and misery but it felt like this episode decided to take those negative emotions, give them steroids and see what form it took - a lot like how Hanako ended up turning into a player along with the rest - only to then decide that it isn't enough to have suffering from one point of view but it's necessary to have it from at least 3-4.

This may sound messed up coming from me, but I really did enjoy this episode being a continuous string of characters suffering for the simple fact that before I even saw the first episode of Zetman, it was what I was expecting but never really got. There was definitely more focus on Jin this time round, seeing as how he was neglected a little bit in the previous 2 episodes where Kouga was the focus, but even so Kouga, Konoha and Hanako all got there time in the spotlight during this episode.

Jin's reasons for turning to evil (or rather desire) were stereotypically noble and made him stand out more and more as the true hero of the series, nicely contrasted by Kouga's hastened decline into madness and loss of his senses in general. What's been a somewhat refreshing aspect of this character development in the series is that it doesn't adhere to the stereotypical plot progression; sure Kouga and Jin both get stronger physically but mentally Kouga becomes weaker and weaker, allowing there to be a certain amount of shock value from Kouga's shots fired towards his parents (notice how he didn't stop after he shot his mum), all the while Jin's resolve and mental strength is only built up on. Whether this is good or not is really up to an individual's perspective but I will point out that it's a point of character development that has managed to differentiate the manga from all of the other stereotypical dual-protagonist story.

Now if we talk about Hanako's sudden transformation into a player.... that was something that some might have been able to guess (I was not one of them) but it definitely added to the tragedy of the entire scenario for both herself and JIn, not to mention that this came after Jin openly chose to protect Hanako by turning into ZET and thus breaking Konoha's heart (speculative but most probably accurate).

With all of the feelings of resentment, despair and tragedy looming in the air the episode ends and sets up the stage for the final battle between Jin and Haitani and for an obvious original ending. I've enjoyed this and the previous episode a lot, seeing as how they slowed down the pace and had more of a dark feel than quite a few episodes with my only feelings of anger towards the series is that it didn't slow things down earlier.

I just hope the final episode will be done at this level or higher.