This post is spoilery…and emotionally driven. As a warning for people who haven’t watched this series yet: It’s very depressing. Only watch if you have the heart to stomach it. You know how the Japanese just love to indulge in their tragedies…
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Forgive me for taking so long to blog this final episode. I know that people have been waiting for me to write my thoughts on this one, but the truth is that it’s been too painful to re-watch, let alone write about it. What joy is there in seeing two people destined for each other end up the way they did? Yes, they ultimately found peace together at the end, but at the demise and sacrifice of their own lives. I didn’t think that Oboro had it in her to do anything remotely harmful to Gennosuke. How could she? He was her every breathe and inspiration in life, and her every reason for living. How could she even think about inflicting harm on someone that important to her? On one hand, I felt sorrow for the situation they were forced into, but I was [and still am] highly jealous of the fact that they both had so much love for each other. I don’t believe that this type of love exists in reality. It isn’t possible. Usually it is one-sided…an unrequited love that we’ve seen so often in fiction and in reality. I have yet to meet someone who could love .. so much. But that is another story entirely. This year has been a difficult and confusing road…and I haven’t really had the desire or will to write about this.
All I can say is that I was left with a feeling of pure emptiness after watching the last few seconds of the episode. I stared at the screen for a while, not knowing how to feel. In some ways, I wish I hadn’t started this series because it wasn’t the least bit happy. If you’re already feeling depressed, it’ll only end up making you feeling even worse. You’ll feel emotionally dead for a little, and then you’ll be desperate to watch something funny to get that sadness out of your system. I don’t remember if it made me cry, but it made me feel like, “that’s it?” I read early on that everyone ended up dying in the series, but I didn’t want to believe it. Seeing all of the characters you’ve grown to love waste away all in the name of greed [absolutely nonsense] sure doesn’t give you a nice feeling afterward. I suppose this is what makes a great anime a classic – when it’s so engaging and emotionally driven that you’re left pondering about it for days. Of course, if you didn’t care for any of the characters in the first place, then none of this will phase you. If you don’t have a heart, then none of this will bother you. But if you’re like me, a hopeless romantic, hoping and wishing for love upon a distant star, then you will both love and hate this tragic yet bittersweet ending.
Um, I just though that I’d mention that my Oboro tribute slideshow is posted (in all its pathetic newbie-ness) at my YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/naomiCENSORED . Thanks for sharing your gorgeous Basilisk screenshots with people like me, as well as your thoughts on this spectacular series!
Best,
Naomi
Wow, I’m a bit late to reply to this but, I was completely bawling my eyes out, I could not stop crying. I am completely serious, it was too painful, I love the story plot, but it was just-
Too Gorey..
For me, but I have to admit, I still continued to watch until the end.
I don’t know whether this is a happy or sad ending to me, I mean, Yes Peace at last, but two lovers dying?! Together?! It’s as if the world has gone mad, they aren’t afraid of death! Well,actually, I think they were but the characters STILL continued to maintain the hatred between the Iga and Kouga clan?! That is just.. Disappointing, if only, for once they would obey with Gennosuke and Oboro, to make peace, but, no.
Anyways, thanks for posting your opinion on the final, tragic episode!
I just want to know why Hanzo never called Ofuku out on her bullshit.
Also, the fact that Hanzo kept one of the scrolls at the end, does that mean he was trying to stop this all along, or did he just pick up a memento afterwards, or was he trying to help one side win?
Is Basilisk a tragic anime? Yes. But is the ending sad? Well that depends on your definition. Oboro and Gennosuke may have surrendered their chance for Earthly happiness, but there’s a tenent in japanese buddhism regarding how two lovers who cannot be together in life can commit lover’s suicide and be allowed to enter together forever into the pure land of Amidha Buddha. Look at it that way and its almost as if Oboro and Gennosuke died because they were too pure to live mortal life. You also have to consider the symbolic meaning of their death. By choosing to kill themselves rather than the other, Oboro and Gennosuke broke the cycle of vengeance and violence that their clans had been caught up in. And their actions weren’t lost on Hattori Hanzo who (as its revealed in the epilogue of this episode) reinstigated the treaty by equally dividing the spoils among both clans.