The Bizarre Ending of Re:Creators

I would like it explained to me what, exactly, happened when the surviving characters of Altair’s failed rebellion walked through that portal in the final episode of Re:Creators. Because I think I watched them kill themselves.

This depressing thought snuck up on me the other night, as I walked to my refrigerator for a drink, after being generally happy with the final episode of Re:Creators and mulling over how cutting Altair out of the show completely would have made for a much better show. I tried to deny this thought and couldn’t. (Either thought, really, Re:Creators would have worked better as a slice-of-life series without the presence of Altair but that’s not the purpose of this post.) I slept on it and still can’t find the fault in this depressing idea. I had not intended to revisit Re:Creators after writing such a long post last week about the problems this show had; however, I was not expecting to watch a number of cast members getting spaghettified in some sort of cosmic blue portal of death.

The Disappointment of Re:Creators

I will not rage.

After 20 episodes I realized that Re:Creators was somehow going to find a way to under-perform even the meager expectations I had about it’s telegraphed ending. I can’t pretend I was shocked, surprised, or even offended about how poorly executed the creators of Re:Creators resolved the central conflict of the series in episode 21. In fact, the only feeling of surprise I had while slogging through episode 21 was finding out how little I actually cared about how the show was going to resolve itself; I thought I was more invested in this show than I turned out to be.

Then again, maybe if all the likable characters weren’t killed or completely sidelined from the show, I might have cared enough about Re:Creators to feel the need to rage about this ending. Instead, I feel disappointed that not even a decent ending could have been salvaged from this show.

So, I will not rage. I will, however, lay out some of the reasons why Re:Creators was a disappointment.

The Anime Recap Episode – # 1: June 2017

“It lives and it’s starting a new monthly feature?! Impossible! I thought this blog had already died or given a wedgie and stuffed inside a locker at a magical high school or something,” is what I imagine is being thought by whoever is reading this right now. I know it’s what I’m thinking. As for an explanation of the mundane minutiae to where I’ve been, I’ll stick that at the end of this article; instead, let’s jump into what I hope to accomplish with new feature of The Null Set.

Over the last decade my anime viewing habits have slowly drifted away from the slavish week-to-week new episode watching pattern that provided the material needed to write a weekly recap article. Currently, the really good shows still get watched as soon as possible and the rest have shifted to an irregular pattern of filling in the time when I feel like watching some anime. That means some shows get 3 or 4 episodes piled up before I get to them now.

In hindsight, I should have switched to a monthly recap format but that obvious conclusion eluded me for the last several years.

So, what can one expect to find inside The Anime Recap Episode?

While I’m not going to cover everything I watched, I want each post to do a good job capturing the good and the bad of what anime I did watch – new and old – from the past month. I’m going to try to steer clear of writing here in formats that I already write in elsewhere: first impressions, mid-season report, season and series review. After all, I want these recap episodes to contain new content and not merely repeat already written material. If that leaves me with enough to write about is something we’ll have to see. I want to also cover what I’m looking forward to in the next month and then cover how my last month’s anticipated anime turned out. There’ll be other bits included, I’m sure, as the inspiration hits.

And with that navel grazing done, let’s get on with it.