Toppa Bashin – Final Episode

We’re here! The final episode of Battle Spirits Shounen Toppa Bashin!

Last time Bashin had just defeated Nine in what I can only describe as the coolest and yet most uninteractive game of Battle Spirits I’ve ever seen.

Now, Uchuuchouten is challenging Bashin to one final battle.

Strangely enough, the opening, while STILL PLAYING, has an entire scene occurring in the middle of it.

I’m not sure how to feel that Kiano is sat here sounding terrified to the tune of “Go Ahead”

It appears that whatever segment of Rage Nine had, it infested the Star-shaped stone he stole from Uchuuchouten, and when it returned to Uchuuchouten, it took Nine’s rage with it.

So it appears whatever Uchuuchouten wanted to do, its been overridden by Nine’s burning rage.

Also note how Uchuuchouten says My Isekai World.

Bashin asking the obvious question of “Why are we staking the fate of 2 worlds on Card Games?”

Wait what? That’s what the Cornerstones are meant to do? They’re meant to destroy the power of luck?

Is THAT what Uchuuchouten meant when he said Nine “wouldn’t be lucky”? It wasn’t that Nine wouldn’t get good luck its that good luck isn’t enough to defeat someone who holds a Cornerstone.

Ahah, that’s kind of cool. They parodied the series title. The episode title says “Shomen Toppa Bashin” which is translated as you see here. But the show’s title is Battle Spirits “Shounen Toppa Bashin”.

You might think its a bit strange because Japan standardizes name Surname first and yet its listed in English order, but in Japan, “Toppa” means “Breakthrough”

So actually the title sort of translates to “Breakthrough Boy Bashin”

It’s quite cool

A surprisingly responsible statement from Bashin, he can’t be responsible for the world because he doesn’t speak for it, he CAN however, speak for himself, and will happily offer himself up in exchange.

Hayami intervenes with the inevitable, as she’s apparently clicked onto the identity of Uchuuchouten.

And doesn’t like the idea of Bashin battling whoever Uchuuchouten is.

I personally wouldn’t stand infront of a guy who’s just ingested a fresh bowl of anger from someone who was willing to put free will suppressing masks on even small children.

Bashin interrupts Hayami’s reveal of Uchuuchouten’s identity, stating that whoever Uchuuchouten is, it really doesn’t matter.

Once again, bit old fashioned but hey.

Don’t get between 2 people who BOTH wanna fight each other.

Bro you have literally this episode and no other time to do it, “Not yet” is not an appropriate answer.

Uchuuchouten once again clarifies that this battle won’t have any continues, winner takes all, etc.

…The Floor below him just faded in. Not even like a flash of light or anything.

The “Six Life System” appears to be a system that incorporates the Cornerstones, since there are 6 and Batosupi only uses 5 lives, they have to add an extra one.

Whatever that system does, its affected the Cornerstones

Oh hey, the Lives have been populated, the Core is even one of each colour. Guess that’s where the Cornerstone’s shine went.

Meanwhile Uchuuchouten’s Red 6-pointed Star has also gained the Colours of the Cornerstones.

It appears without functioning Cornerstones, Isekai World vanishes, along with the Cornerstone 6’s pets.

So Uchuuchouten’s GOAL is to create Isekai World? Like, on Earth? Like Nine did?

So in other words Uchuuchouten was intending to use this system to acquire that goal which Nine wasn’t quite aware of, or at least if he was he decided he didn’t wish to use it, instead just using the Cornerstone Holders as a power source instead of using the Six Life System.

The Battle Spirits Priest had something very similar to the Emerald Cornerstone. Does that mean that Uchuuchouten’s little Red star was the PREVIOUS Ruby Cornerstone?

So Uchuuchouten wanted to lay out the stakes before he accepted Bashin’s challenge.

How nice of him, to clear up the severity of the situation before letting Bashin get into something crazy.

Aibou decides to speak for the animals, choosing to risk their lives in order for Bashin to face Uchuuchouten.

I guess they’re not too worried about dying.

Nice to know that Bashin’s clear on the stakes because I’m not just yet, I’ll wait for the battle to start. So if Bashin loses, the animals are rendered incapable of communicating as they have been, return to being regular pets, and Bashin loses access to Isekai. Allowing Uchuuchouten to have full control of Isekai World through the power he steals.

Bashin has been offered a card by each of Team Shomen Toppa. This becomes a standard of the series that the main character has quite a unique deck for the last battle, often incorporating a mix of cards from their allies. 2 of our many available series do stray from this though, one of those series has the main character not receive ANY cards, and the other has the main character receive only ONE card rather than multiple.

Anyway, of the cards Bashin took, we know 2 of them, its Meganeko’s Valiero and Striker’s SavageKnight Hercules.

Turn 31 ay… And it’s Bashin’s turn.

Quite a simplistic board state, Bashin has 2 Cost 4s in a Lv2 Balmung and Lv1 TaurusKnight while Uchuuchouten only has a Lv2 Kujaraku.

It doesn’t appear like Uchuuchouten is using anything interesting, other than this particular Red card, but discerning his deck from Kujaraku would be an exercise in stupidity.

Due to the Six Life System, the players have 6 lives as opposed to 5. Interestingly, Uchuuchouten’s lives are black.

Bashin’s hand is apparently THE TITS, because he’s played a Lv2 Siegfried and a Lv2 Diranos.

Though compared to the more recent X-Rares, they’re kind of lackluster, Diranos is very low power and more of a support X-Rare while Siegfried just… doesn’t really do anything. I guess it has a high BP?

I guess its a showdown, Taurusknight has 3000 BP as it’s Lv1, and Kujaraku has 6000 BP at Lv2. Taurusknight can beat it at Lv3 with 9000 BP.

Time for Awaken.

Only 2? I suppose Diranos’ Lv1 effect will grant Taurusknight +1000 BP but going for a tie isn’t the best. Balmung is level 2 at 4 core, Bashin should have enough Core for it to reach Lv3?

but nope, settles for a Draw, Kujaraku and Taurusknight defeat each other.

Balmung attacks with Siegfried, giving it Balmung’s Core to raise it to Lv3 from Lv2.

Uchuuchouten takes it from the life, making it the first blood of the game.

Card Sensei is a bit slow and only NOW realises that the dome is connected to Isekai.

This is a lovely use of these last few seconds of the show.

As far as Kiano was concerned when he developed the system, he developed the Battle System for the purposes of Linking to the Battling Spirits of Isekai, but didn’t plan for it to go any further than battling.

Why have we waited until the LAST POSSIBLE episode for anyone reasonable to ask WHO THE FUCK IS UCHUUCHOUTEN!?

WHY HAVE I WAITED 50 EPISODES TO HEAR THE ANSWER TO A QUESTION I HAVE BEEN ASKING SINCE EPISODE ONE!

And there’s the confirmation, Uchuuchouten’s true identity is that of Bashin Touha, Bashin Toppa’s father.

The foreshadowing of which is indicated in the series by 2 things, the first is that Hayami describes Bashin has behaving exactly the same way as his father with very few differences.

The second, is that Uchuuchouten responded to Bashin’s catchphrase by finishing it.

From those 2 things it is very easy to guess that Uchuuchouten may have been Bashin’s father.

…THAT IS HOW HE DRESSED!? He’s just a fucking power ranger! Also his Cornerstone is the same as Bashin’s so wtf is that Star-thing. I guess its just a vessel to contain the power of all 6 Cornerstones given its look.

Also he’s got Eight’s Shades, he must have inspired Eight to wear them.

Oh, no, that’s bad, that’s a HUGE retcon, Elliott had an entire secret tournament with exclusive invites to specifically introduce Tag Battles as a new format of play. Based on this information, Tag Battles existed long before Elliott had introduced them. Which makes no sense for the Tournament to be secret if it was already a well-known format.

“Kiano siblings”

Wait, so S. Kiano Sawaragi inherited the Wife’s name instead of having her take his.

That’s… surprisingly fucking progressive actually, well done for a series released in 2008.

That also means we can call Auntie over here “Aunt Kiano”

You played out of nothing but BS01 for SEVERAL YEARS, that couldn’t have been golden whatsoever!

Haha, his name is written as “Uchuu-Chouten-King”, which means his name is not the longass “Uchuuchouten-Ou” its a title.

“Uchuu” means Universe, and “Chouten” means Top, or Summit.

So a rough translation of King Uchuuchouten’s name is actually, “King at the Top of the Universe”, or “Universe’s Top King”

For now we’ll stick to Uchuuchouten at the very least.

Uchuuchouten plays a Goradon at Lv2, and DarkGoradon at Lv1.

Nice side by side comparison between Goradon and it’s Darker Counterpart.

I kid, the last episode of Bashin Toppa was actually the first episode of it I ever watched.

But uh, THAT card, hoo boy, considering how the rest of the series has been going its kind of jarring to see a card like that in this series.

A Huge, 6-winged Cost 10 Black Dragon.

You wouldn’t have, this episode’s airing date was the 9th of July, 2009.

The Set this card comes out in quite literally does not exist yet.

Its not wrong, watchers would have likely had no way of being aware of this Spirit before now when watching this as it first aired.

Nothing like a little bit of Nine’s rage leaking out there. Uchuuchouten still intends to use the Cornerstones to erase Earth using Isekai.

I suppose now’s enough teasing, I guess its time I give you the low-down on the card.

What you think because I’m reviewing this in real time I can’t pull information from the future?!

Do you realize who you’re talking to!?

Fine, I’ll do it myself.

No title, no “King” no “Emperor” no “Lord” no “Hero”.

It is simply, The “Deity”, its name is Catastrophedragon, the Strongest X-Rare… Or so its titled. A card from the now currently non-existent BS06, setting a trend for the main antagonist’s cards to be cards from the next Saga of Battle Spirits. This is the only exception as the next series takes place in the same “Saga”

Cost 10, a natural Lv3 BP of 20,000. And 3 effects.

The first, when summoned, you draw a card for every “Ancient Dragon” you control, Catastrophedragon is an Ancient Dragon so you will at least gain 1 card worst-case scenario.

The Second effect, from Lv2 onward. A new Red-exclusive Keyword, Clash, “Gekitotsu” in Japan and “Rage” in the English game, A Clash Spirit craves battle, so if there are available Spirits to block, your opponent must block the Clash Spirit, and cannot opt into taking from the life.

And Lv3, it’s strongest effect, if you think you could escape the huge beast by simply chump-blocking it with a weak spirit you’re sorely mistaken, as when Catastrophedragon is blocked by ANYTHING Cost 5 or below, it refreshes.

It’s like an in-built Dragon’s Rush but better, because you can’t escape it by empty blocking, it refreshes the second its blocked, not when it wins. And its unlikely to lose any battles because of it’s outrageous 20,000 BP.

Uchuuchouten unveiling one of his many abilities. The ability to call Spirits from across Time.

Uchuuchouten attacks with The Deity Catastrophedragon.

As Catastrophedragon is a Clash Spirit from Lv2 onwards, Bashin MUST block it’s attack.

Also Catastrophedragon’s theme is freaking AWESOME.

Bashin decides to make what would be the correct choice on any other day, and block with his weakest spirit.

Balmung stands no chance of course.

Bashin didn’t block using a Spirit of Cost 6+, so Catastrophedragon is able to attack again.

Catastrophedragon is appropriate for the title of “The Deity”, unless you present a high enough quality sacrifice, it will continue to rampage.

Diranos was an okay choice too, its a relatively weak in strength X-Rare.

Since Catastrophedragon was blocked by a Cost 6+, it does not refresh.

Undeterred, Uchuuchouten attacks with DarkGoradon. Bashin has no blockers, so now he has to risk the lives that hold the shine of the Cornerstone.

Bashin’s Blue Life has been shattered (5 – 6->5)

So when Bashin loses a Life, the respective Animal’s collar turns black, and the animal is rendered unable to continue communicating through speech.

Card Sensei awakened his Cornerstone first, so he’s been with Guragurii the absolute longest. Many years of his life in fact.

He’s basically just lost a long-time friend forever.

Seems I was right, that Star-like Cornerstone is like Master Cornerstone, it’s designed to gather all 6 of the Cornerstone’s Lights in a single place, a transfer that can only be done through the Six Life System. Uchuuchouten ends his turn.

Unfortunately Battle Spirits is a game where very often you’ll find that you have no choice but to lose lives. So this Six Life System is going to be brutalizing because Bashin can’t properly defend his life AND win. Especially not against Catastrophedragon which demands a strong enough opponent to not claim one of Bashin’s lives.

Bashin plays the card Suiren gave him, The SevenShogun Destlord.

Uchuuchouten’s only blocker is Goradon at Lv2, so it’s exhausted.

I wonder if Bashin intends to full attack. It’d be reckless with his lives though.

Siegfried attacks, taking a life from Uchuuchouten. (5->4 – 5)

Bashin decides the best course of action is to end his turn with Destlord as a Blocker.

Not the worst move to ensure Catastrophedragon doesn’t get at your life, but the problem is Uchuuchouten has 2 Goradons that can attack and you’ll have a hard time blocking them.

Catastrophedragon attacks, It’s Clash ability forcing Destlord to block it and be destroyed. Catastrophedragon fails to refresh having fought a Cost 7 Spirit.

If a guy that wants to take your lives to power his Master stone sees an opportunity to take them, he probably will.

The Yellow and Purple lives are destroyed (4 – 5->3)

Bashin’s now behind.

Nanarin leaves some parting words for Meganeko to stay with Bashin.

And Pink reminds Suiren that she’s no longer alone as an idol, she has friends.

Kind of bittersweet, honestly.

Uchuuchouten now has half the Cornerstones necessary to destroy the Earth by unleashing Isekai.

Bashin immediately takes his turn and goes on the offensive, attacking with Siegfried.

Bashin then Swift Summons The SavageKnight Hercules.

Score is now 3 – 3, but the situation hasn’t changed, Bashin now has a big meaty X-Rare that’s a quasi-vanilla in this situation.

Bashin… Chooses to attack with Hercules? That will leave him open to the remaining 3 Spirits…

Uchuuchouten decides to match Bashin’s Green X-Rare with his own.

The 2 Knights Strike each other, since they have equal BP, they’re destroyed.

Hayami has a small flashback to when Bashin was very small and his father had recently left, asking his mother to teach him Battle Spirits.

The card in Hayami’s hand is a fucking DragonEmperor Siegfried.
WHAT NEED WAS THERE TO HAVE NINE HAND IT TO HIM?

Did the writers have a fucking Toriyama moment and just forget what had been established by the plot at this point?

Knuckles the Echidna attacks with Catastrophedragon, as per usual.

Bashin pre-emptively apologizes to Striker as Bashin knows that he can’t protect the lives AND beat Uchuuchouten at the same time.

The Green Life has been smashed (3 – 3->2)

And another one bites the dust~

Uchuuchouten once again mobilizes his Goradon’s to take Bashin’s last 2 lives but Bashin plays Flame Tempest.

Since Uchuuchouten was in a rush and failed to level them, the 2 Spirits are wiped out.

Uchuuchouten’s face is pretty indicative that he’s aware that he made a mistake there in his urgency.

When in doubt, play Double Draw.

That’s what Bashin does.

And he manages to draw both Meganeko AND Kyouka’s cards.

Valiero makes sense, we saw that, but Titus is Kyouka’s card? I guess Bashin must have handed the X-Rares Seven gave him to Kyouka and she handed them back.

I’m briefly showing a frame from the other sub because the cards are SUPER low quality in Soaker’s own vid. We can see here that Uchuuchouten’s deck is looking a lot like a Red/Purple mix.

I won’t bother calculating what’s left in Uchuuchouten’s deck, Bashin likely won’t win through deck out anyhow.

Bashin makes an observation that he has Uchuuchouten in check, which is to say, if Uchuuchouten is unable to do anything, Bashin wins here.

Siegfried attacks, which Uchuuchouten takes from the life
(3->2 – 2)

Of course when Bashin attacks with Valiero, Uchuuchouten counters with Binding Thorn.

I guess it wouldn’t be too farfetched to suggest that Uchuuchouten has also mixed in green, between this and Hercules.

Titus is the only other target that can become exhausted, so Uchuuchouten selects that.

Bashin’s now down to an all-exhausted board, and Uchuuchouten’s on 1 life to Bashin’s 2.

Uchuuchouten’s preparing for the worst in case Bashin tries to get around the exhausted Catastrophedragon again. Deploying The Hermit Wise Tree at Lv2.

Uchuuchouten will get +1000 BP to any attacking Spirits for every exhausted Spirit he owns, but at Lv2, Uchuuchouten’s whole field refreshes once his turn ends.

He then follows up with a Lv3 UnicornDragon Volsung, with the +3000 BP it gets from attacking and the +1000 from Hermit Wise Tree, it can hit in for 12000 BP.

And just for good measure. Uchuuchouten plays Double Hearts.

Catastrophedragon is given a second Red Symbol.

Also you can see Catastrophedragon’s setcode from here.

Apparently, he’s not done, playing Lightning Ballista on his main step.

With it, as he controls a Multi-Symbol Spirit, he can destroy a Spirit with 7000 BP or less.

He selects the ArcAngelia Valiero.

Uchuuchouten plays a SECOND Lightning Ballista.

And uses it to destroy GiantHero Titus.

Bashin starts to panic, as he’s on 2 life staring down a multi-symbol spirit, and if that weren’t enough, Volsung is also around.

Aibou uses this moment to give Bashin some words of encouragement.

Somehow Aibou managed to have Cap raise him up by his tail, even though Cap is no longer capable of speaking with a Human-like conscience.

Uchuuchouten’s judgment is being affected by Nine’s rage, stored in his Master Cornerstone.

Hot Tip, you have a Double Symbol Spirit and a Single Symbol Spirit, your opponent has 2 lives and no blockers.

The Play is never. And I mean NEVER to attack with the Single Symbol first.

Because otherwise THIS happens, had Uchuuchouten attacked with Catastrophedragon, Silent Wall wouldn’t have mattered.

As it turns out, J didn’t offer Bashin an X-Rare but chose to hand him something functional.

The animals losing the ability to speak after having it for about a year and the cast becoming used to it must be like living through a death. Sure the animal is still alive but their interactions and expressions will never be the same.

With The Hermit Wise Tree, Volsung is refreshed, ready to block.

And Bashin’s got an uphill battle, as Catastrophedragon still has a great 20000 BP.

I mean, sure it looks bad but Uchuuchouten’s on 1 life, and it’s Bashin’s turn. Uchuuchouten lost a LARGE amount of cards trying to pick apart Bashin’s field, and Bashin’s got 4 cards in his hand.

It’s a fairly good situation for him all things considered.

Isekai World is fueled by the power of Luck and Enjoyment? So if one of those things run out Isekai World just dies?

Doesn’t really make sense.

Supposedly Kitan believes that the conditions have been met, Luck has been destroyed and no one is exactly enjoying Battle Spirits right now.

Also Nine is approaching, Danger?

…So its the BELIEF in Luck that’s fading? I don’t get it.

This maketh no sense. Everything’s being described in really awkward and off-handed ways.

Hayami meets Nine’s approach by offering him an Eel and Pork Cutlet Special.

Nine seems, interestingly, genuinely confused.

Are they fucking redeeming this magnificent bastard by chocking up his evilness to something he can’t even remember?

Kitan’s explaining that Nine was apparently “Controlled by the Hatred in his Soul” which was SO great that when the Master Cornerstone left Nine, it took his Hatred with him and when that left Nine he completely forgot EVERYTHING that’s happened in the series.

It appears Nine, when not a magnificent bastard, is quite loyal to Kitan.

But that also means that Nine and Uchuuchouten were Training partners if both of them were trained by Kitan.

It appears Bashin is taking a leaf out of Seven’s book and performing his OWN variant of the “Galaxy Draw”, The “Break through the front Draw”

Because of course, we have to make it dramatic, right?

Siegfried has basically taken all the lives thus far and has remained on Bashin’s field for several turns, attacking Uchuuchouten.

It’s put in some work. Its deserving of a thanks from Bashin.

Bashin offers Siegfried as a Tribute.

In order to summon Bashin and J’s combination X-Rare, and in this case, a representation of Bashin’s promise to defeat Uchuuchouten with J. The SacredEmperor Siegfrieden at Lv3.

As Siegfrieden tributed Siegfried, Bashin can destroy a Cost 8 or below Spirit, Volsung is the only available target.

Bashin then plays Dragon’s Rush, now when the “Ancient Dragon” family Siegfrieden defeats a Spirit, it will refresh.

The problem will be somehow topping a 21000 BP spirit with the 15000 BP Siegfrieden, Hermit Wise Tree will add +1000 BP to Catastrophedragon.

King Uchuuchouten is literally ALL ham and I’m SO here for it.

The 2 Dragons are clashing, now how will Bashin clear that 6000 BP gap?

Bashin manages to shrink the gap slightly by adding 2000 BP to Siegfrieden.

Catastrophedragon appears to have the upper hand still. There’s still a 4000 BP gap Bashin needs to close.

That’ll do it! Bashin plays Lightning Ballista!

This puts Siegfrieden’s BP at the highest the series has seen, 22,000 BP!

The Deity Catastrophedragon is DESTROYED.

Due to the effect of Dragon’s Rush, Siegfrieden is refreshed after defeating Catastrophedragon.

Bashin declares one FINAL attack with Siegfrieden!

And shatters Uchuuchouten’s final life.

Even Siegfrieden does a Victory pose this time, this becomes more standardized in later series where a main character will do a pose with their winning Spirits.

However as soon as Bashin wins, Isekai World fades.

Well, Uchuuchouten DID risk Isekai World, now whatever connection they had to it is gone.

Despite Bashin winning, Aibou’s stone still fades, rendering him unable to speak.

The animals exist to act as guidance to Isekai World (at least, sometimes they are), if Isekai World no longer exists due to it being the thing Uchuuchouten risked in his battle. Then Aibou, and by extension, the Cornerstone’s purpose, goes with it.

We interrupt this program to inform you that shit is, in fact, happening.

Uchuuchouten’s Master Cornerstone seems to burst, the lights within it leaving.

And they pull a Dragonball Z, firing in equilaterally opposite directons to each other.

God knows where the lights will go though, given they’re not returning to the cornerstones.

Whatever control that master cornerstone was exerting over Touha, its now gone.

He does indeed look like an older Bashin.

Oh hey, Touha calls Bashin “Aibou” much like Bashin does his pet.

I know it was mentioned but I’m glad they remembered stating it.

So, do you by any chance want to explain to me how the actual fuck Touha ended up becoming King Uchuuchouten? And why he didn’t come home?

Apparently not, apparently we instead get urgent news from Batosupi TV.

I guess it shall end the way it started, with useless characters being useless and saying nonsense.

That’s completely fair, the Group has too much power concentrated within it and has been abused far too much over the course of several years.

It drove one guy angry enough to end the world, another guy left his family for like 7 years because he became the King (I’d REALLY like that explained)

It was being used to stalk children, has technology that can suppress free will.

Yeah that’s a mine of nope, off it.

While Thousand Spirits Group is dissolving it appears their assets have been transferred over to the Sawaragi Foundation, which makes sense given the Sawaragi Foundation helped build half their shit. As such, Tournaments will now be hosted by them.

Oh, that’s intriguing, J finally took Michael Elliott’s offer, and pulling a Smile, studying Battle Spirits abroad in Elliott’s Batosupi University.

Nine, or, rather I should say, Kyuusaku, is also taking this opportunity to go to America, as he’s got significant memory loss and wants to “power up after waking up”

Bashin and his friends see J off on the Plane that will take him abroad.

Interesting note: J’s suit still has the Cornerstone embedded within it, but its blackened.

Really? That’s the end?! That was a REALLY short epilogue.

Alright, well typically at times like this, the show has some additional stuff, so let’s see.

Ah, we DO have ending stuff. Card Sensei becomes a Teacher at Tonari Middle School!

The Student Council President becomes an active battler.

Smile decides to become a regular member of the Batosupi Club, he hasn’t mellowed out whatsoever from his transformation as Card Sensei’s student.

The Priest frequents the Otonashi residence to play Battle Spirits with Kitan during his retirement.

Baito-kun AND Baito-san return to work, happy and healthy it seems.

I guess we’ve got a little scene before the end detailing what Touha will do…

…And it appears he’s LEAVING again.

Considering what happened the first time and how long he’s been gone I REALLY don’t think this is a good idea.

…Alright Hayami get his will, cuz he’s going to need to write one.

Does this shitlord have NO sense of danger whatsoever? He just got back, is leaving again even though he spent like some SEVERAL YEARS as a ruthless King.

Before he leaves however, he tosses something to Bashin.

It’s Bashin’s old Cornerstone, the Light seems to have returned to it as well.

And it’s still fully functional apparently, Aibou is now able to speak again!

…Are you REALLY resetting the status quo here show? Is THAT what you’re doing!?

So Isekai is once again fully functional, and bright again for that matter.

And apparently, it even functions LONG DISTANCE now, J’s Cornerstone has regained it’s colour now as well.

That’s the end, huh?

For now, I’ll give my thoughts on the ending, and then give my thoughts on the series as a whole in a subsequent post.

This wasn’t a bad ending episode, in a vacuum at least. The Main character beats the Bad guy, the stakes set in the battle are carried out its all very grim and the final battle is very cool.

The problems I have with the episode is that, all of the stuff established BEFORE the episode doesn’t flow into it properly.

As an Episode its fine but it doesn’t adequately serve it’s functional purpose.

In the last 2 episodes, they retcon the Tag matches as existing far earlier than suggested despite Elliott introducing it as a new system. They don’t adequately explain why Uchuuchouten is doing what he’s doing, they don’t EVER explain how Touha became Uchuuchouten, why he did it, and how he got overidden etc. Nothing about Uchuuchouten besides his motive is explained.

I’m not too fussed about Isekai returning and the animals becoming able to speak again, mostly because that seems like the type of thing that COULD happen, the Cornerstone’s lights dispersed and eventually were regained.

And worse still, the main antagonist, Nine (Uchuuchouten is more like an Extra Final Boss than an antagonist) gets absolved in 2 seconds with very LITTLE explanation or even foreshadowing suggesting that he was in the state that he was.

It’s like they wrote it in last second because they couldn’t cope with just killing the character in a Shounen (Young Boy’s) anime.

There are good parts to the Episode though, the Battle itself is nice and symbol, they managed to write in each Key Spirit of Bashin’s allies nicely, and Uchuuchouten is defeated by the combination of Bashin and J’s X-Rares, which symbolically means Bashin and J defeated Uchuuchouten together.

That was perfect. The battle even shows how similar Bashin and Uchuuchouten are with them mirroring each other at times. It was a good battle.

The farewells were heartbreaking, the emotions expressed were awesome. Emotionally, it was a good episode but narratively it was just… bad.

I’m not disappointed however, how could I be? This is the final episode of Battle Spirits Shounen Toppa Bashin! And with this final episode, I shall prepare!

For Battle Spirits Shounen Gekiha Dan!

Gate Open!

Release!