Denno Coil 25-26 and Final Thoughts

It makes me a little sad to see this series end. And I'm saying that in all honesty.

Yet, I can't help but feel that nothing more could be added in order to make this already heart-warming and surprisingly refreshing story any better. More would be mere surplusage. Let's leave the rest to the fanfic writers. What, with so much eye-candy in the last few episodes and the very interesting character dynamics throughout the entire show, I'm pretty certain the Denno Coil fandom will have a few followers. As for me, I'd like to keep the story as it is, and only resort to fanfic if I feel like crack-hunting.

So where do we start?

The last two episodes of Denno Coil -- which is to say, the conclusion -- has revealed so many startling twists they boggle the mind and at the same time explain something of the real nature of Denno Coil and everything that has happened since the beginning.

The first thirteen episodes of the series, in contrast to the later ones, are playful and refreshing. They treat of the Denno world as an imaginary world made for children where everything is a discovery.

The show is clever that way because while children run around doing this and that and making strange and humorous discoveries about their virtual playground, we are also introduced in the most entertaining way to Daikoku City and its inhabitants.

Denno Coil could have gone on that way, without any protest from me. There is something wholly fascinating about this world of virtual reality. I am no techno-geek so everything -- every concept, every idea that is remotely strange -- is new to me. I don't know whether a world of augmented-reality could ever possibly exist or whether or not our present technology, in fact, echoes concepts like Denno Coil some time in the near future. But I find the idea entertaining and I love watching a show that deals with it.

But to subtly marry the innovative technology of the Denno world with a storyline that is initially simple before gradually gaining complexity lends this series a kind of magnetic appeal and at the same time reveals to the viewer the kind of dedication it must have taken for the writers to stick to a definite storyline that may or may not have worked.

The story is just beautiful, hands down. From the beginning, we are fed with several interesting facts that we never would have thought would figure much in the final unfolding of the story.

For instance, who here actually remembered Mayumi the second Yasako mentions her name in Episode 24? I know I didn't and I was perplexed to find out that Yasako did in fact mention her in passing early on.

Another example is the names "Yasako", "Isako" and "4423." To be sure, they were just codenames to give off that additional element of cool in an already cooler than cool anime. But, surprise, surprise, when the names actually have a deeper significance and the knowledge of that gives those names a certain kind of resonance when we go back to the halcyon episodes of the series.
I find Yasako and Isako's friendship extremely touching, not because of some cliche reason that they are different people yet still manage to connect, but because of what they both say at the final episode:

That even if you can't see the path, people are definitely connected.

In the end, that is what the whole story of Denno Coil is about -- whether it is the kind of physical connection that is so readily available and readily seen in our material world (as enunciated by Yasako's mother in Episode 24), or a connection by means of technology and cyberspace, or that other kind of path that is as real as it is unfathomable, the one that Isako is so afraid of losing from her brother.

The anime deals with loss and friendship and love with a kind of simplicity befitting of a show made for children. And it's not made worse for that. In fact, I wholly think that the messages the show sends are made more powerful because of that simplicity.

Pets die. Friends die. People disappear right in front of our eyes. But does it mean that they are ever truly gone? I should think not.

If the story of Denno Coil is beautiful, the quality of the animation and special effect -- heck, the film overall -- will make you go woah. I'll be very honest with you. I watched this show because the animation quality attracted me, and I did not expect much from it. Who could? When this is definitely slated as a "children's show?"

But it took me only one episode to digress from my original statement. Yes, it's a children's show, but hell it's one of the more entertaining releases there is yet!

And of course, much is to be said about the quality of this series. Between the subtle, watercolor effects of the art style to the stunning visualizations of the innovative Denno world, I can't make up my mind which one I like most. Not to mention, the virtual battles between Satchii and the Tetris of Doom, 2.0, and the rapidly deconstructing world of Michiko-san. It's a visual feast. It's special effects that could have rivaled Star Wars.

So my final thoughts? Watch this show.

Denno Coil Episode 25 Screencaps
Denno Coil Episode 26 Screencaps