Otakuism

Gift~eternal rainbow~ is the first series of the fall season to end for me, at least for the subs to end (let’s not get started on Black Lagoon). While the ending was a bit sentimental, it did wrap up all the major plot points, and Haruhiko did stick with Riko instead of a cop-out Harem ending. I’ll give it credit for that.

Don’t worry. He turns out cooler than this.

More Rinka was desperately needed, minus lesbian stalker.

Gift ends with Haruhiko erasing Gift from the world to save Riko. You see, after Kirino went insane, she made Riko feel all guilty and used her gift to exchange her memories with Kirino. Now Kirino was the imouto-chan she always wanted to be, and Riko was losing her mind. To fix this, Haruhiko decided he had to get rid of Gift to save Riko. Haruhiko realizes Gift was created on the day his mother died, and goes to her grave for the truth. There, he recieves a divine flashback to when his mother was alive. Since she was going to die shortly after Haruhiko was born, she decided to use the magic she was born with to give Gift to the people, in order to show Haruhiko all the happiness and sadness people were capable of. Still, once Haruhiko learned everything he could, she wanted him to destroy Gift and chase his own future with the woman he loved, and Haruhiko did just that.

A Chisa is fine too.

Love how Glasses Girl started hitting on Haruhiko at the end. Definately moe.

With Riko’s memory restored, Haruhiko goes to make peace with Kirino. He say’s he’s sorry for missing her piano recital as a kid (him missing it is why Kirino can’t play a full song), and then show’s her his piece of their cup-phone that he broke as a child. Tying the phone’s together again, he say’s he wants Kirino to play the piano song he missed as a child. She agree’s to. With Haruhiko and Riko cheering her on, Kirino can finally play a full song and accept that she will never have Haruhiko, but that he is sill her important childhood friend. With everything fixed, the people move on without Gift, and Haruhiko and Riko promise to chase their own future under the rainbow and be together forever. A very ” Awwww ” ending.

I nominate this man for best harem side-kick ever. He was actually useful, gave great advice to Haruhiko, is a mad scientist, and actually has some small gar moments.

Ok, who is this girl? She’s featured twice in the final episode, so she must of been in the series at some point, right? I just can’t remember her at all.

Yeah, so it’s not the most exciting of endings, and the whole Kirino goes insane plot wasn’t really all it could of been, what with Kirino feeling more guilty then laughing maniacally and raping Haruhiko. Admit that would of been awesome. We did find out what caused Gift, but it turned out that even if Haruhiko’s mother did create Gift, she still used magic, making the whole thing mute. I did like Haruhiko by the end though. He’s not as sarcastic as Yuuichi, but he’s manlier then most harem leads, willing to atone for his mistakes and chase after the girl he really wants and not drag the others. Speaking of others, it’s a shame Gift didn’t put it’s rich cast of side-characters to more use. Would it of really been that hard to give them some cameo’s, or have them try to help Haruhiko or Riko out? Poor Rinka only got one episode!

Even if the ending was lackluster, Gift is still a pretty good harem show. Throwing worthless fanservice and hijinks aside, Gift goes to the heart of the matter with a bunch of character drama. It’s not the best drama, but when you first see Kirino absently talking into a cup-phone, it’s all worth it. Throw in some mostly attractive character designs and you got a solid harem series. Of course, the heavy sis-con is a big bonus for some I’m sure. So if your looking for something a bit less QUALITY then Yoake, not as generic as Happiness, or not as zany as Tokimeki, give Gift a try. You may find yourself surprisingly enjoying it, just like I did.

P.S. the Nipponsei Weekly Review takes a holiday break this week, but there will be a super-sized edition next time. Also, I won’t be updating the next couple of day’s, what with christmas and all. Hopefully I can remember all the stuff I’ve watched this year and make a best of ‘06 for when I come back. Yeah, like that will happen.