(Isis): Greetings and welcome to Project Nitsuj. I am Isis. Nitsuj is out this week due to sickness and has asked me to step in. Don’t worry, it’s nothing serious. Just a slight cold. Today we’re talking about Saekano. A few years back me and Nitsuj took a look at this anime. It was popular and gained a good following. The story about guy creating his own videogame while being surrounded by a bunch of girls who have feelings for him was good, enjoyable, and had a bit of realism to it. So when the second season ended everyone was hoping for a third especially since the light novel was wrapping up around season 2’s ending. About a year went by when we finally got a sequel. In the form of a movie. Yeah a few people were pissed off at first by this but to be fair not much really happens in the final volumes of the novel. At least nothing noteworthy to warrant an anime. Thus a movie was made which took the major points of the final novels and jammed it all into one movie to end the series. The movie was done by CloverWorks seeing as how A1 Pictures was busy with other projects. Was this studio able to give a satisfying ending to this beloved series? Let’s take a look at Saekano the Movie.
The movie starts with Icy Tail performing at a convention and being watched with Tomoya, Megumi, Eriri and Utaha in the audience with Utaha seeing how close Megumi and Tomoya are becoming (well what did you expect? You left him alone with the one person who was your biggest threat. Now suffer for it). After the concert, they all go to an after party where we see Tomoya’s circle is now Megumi, Izumi as the artist (well Tomoya got an upgrade in the art department as Nitsuj would say), and Iori handling marketing and advertisement. As the group eat, Utaha brings up her kiss with Tomoya which he never told Megumi about (wow, he really wants to get himself shot) and she’s mad about it (what’s this? Emotion? So she is leveling up). Their conversation gets cut short with the arrival of Akane who has come to complain about the work of Utaha and Eriri that they submitted and the three ladies have an argument in the restaurant for everyone to see (even tossing out a major spoiler from the game). After this, we go to the next day where we find out Tomoya is in a slump with the main heroine’s route and their deadline is close at hand. Megumi suggests that he go asks for a professional’s opinion (translation, ask Utaha). Tomoya takes that advice to heart and decides to pay her a visit only to see she’s not at her apartment and he instead runs into Akane (is this a blessing or a disaster in disguise?) where the two go to a café and she reads his scenario for him. Akane laughs at the scenario saying it’s too pure (we talking Disney pure or I’m puking rainbows pure?) but at the same time admits that it’s the kind of hot garbage that you can’t get enough of because it speaks to your otaku fantasies (thanks for the compliment, I think). Akane encourages Tomoya to embrace the dark side of those otaku fantasies and run wild with them (Baron: Yeah! Let’s add in some sex scenes. (Corbin): Or better yet, an orgy. (Isis): It’s rated T for Teen. (Corbin): Maybe for America, but in Japan it’s all good).
Tomoya rewrites the story of the main heroine making it more self-indulging and sends a copy of it over to the Megumi who of course doesn’t like it because it’s too self-indulging that any self-respecting woman would dump the guy right then and there without hesitation. Megumi tells Tomoya he needs be more considerate to his heroines and treat them nicely (treat them like a lady). Tomoya takes her advice to heart and tweaks the story of the main heroine up which gets Megumi’s approval (sort of. If it’s embarrassing to a girl it’ll excite a guy). From there the two go on to gather material for the rest of the story by flirting with each other. They do this for a few days until the day of Megumi’s birthday comes around where the two agree to go out with each other. However, Tomoya never shows up because he got distracted by Akane (Baron: Didn’t know he was into older women. (Corbin): I can respect that). It turns out Akane has collapsed on the side of the street and Tomoya called an ambulance to take her to the hospital where Eriri and Utaha arrive as well. We find out that Akane has suffered a stroke and while her life isn’t in any danger, her right hand has become paralyzed and she’ll be unable to use it for a short time period. Losing Akane sets Fields Chronicle back by a lot and puts Utaha and Eriri in a tough spot. Despite this setback Utaha and Eriri work diligently to perfect their work and make it noteworthy, but unfortunately there just isn’t enough time as the team is past their deadline and the main director plans on scraping any events with unfinished art or scripts (and you’ll make it DLC and anger a lot of gamers out there). With their backs against the wall and wanting to make this the best game possible, Utaha and Eriri make the choice to do the one thing they never thought they would do and have the right to do. They ask Tomoya to plead with the main director and delay the release of the game by 2 weeks so they can perfect their work (wow, that’s painful. Not only are they asking for an extension on their work, but they ask the one person who has nothing to do with the game and who they betrayed to go to bat for them. I can’t even imagine how embarrassing and painful that must have been for them. (Corbin): On top of all of that Utaha and Eriri will have pretty much ruined their chances of getting with Tomoya. Once their work is done he’ll return to Megumi to continue his work and his bond with Megumi will become unbreakable and in the end. . .he’ll choose her).
Tomoya being the loyal fool that he is agrees to go to Osaka and negotiate for them completely abandoning his own game and circle just to assist the two traitors who left him (and again I can’t even imagine how painful this must have been for Tomoya. Sacrificing his own ambitions just to help others who you could argue don’t really deserve his help especially after the stunt they pulled, but these are his friends and creators he both looks up to and respects. He has to do this even if it’s something he shouldn’t do). We get a heartbreaking scene between Tomoya and Megumi at the train stop where Megumi has no idea how she should react to what Tomoya is doing (it’s like he’s saying: everything the circle has done up till this point meant nothing to him, and that breaks her heart). Tomoya returns from Osaka where he manages to get Utaha and Eriri two more weeks to finish their work and they take it. Back with the others, Megumi is still depressed but Izumi and Michiru manage to pull her back up and she takes over the leadership role of the circle and finish the game on time. During one of their conversations about Tomoya, Megumi confesses that she’s in love with him. Back with Tomoya, Utaha and Eriri finish their work on time and Tomoya takes his leave to return to his circle. When Tomoya arrives back home he sees Megumi there waiting on his doorstep and then she walks away with Tomoya chasing after her. It’s here that we get the moment we’ve all been waiting for, Tomoya confesses to Megumi and they kiss, three times (Corbin: Called it~). As Tomoya’s circle rushes to finish up their game they get help from Eriri and Utaha who have come to repay their debt allowing the game to get finished on time. At Winter Comiket, the circle manages to sell all 2,000 copies of the game (Baron: HOT DAMN~). In the post credits we see everyone has grown up with Tomoya and Megumi getting married and having their own game developing company and are about to make a sequel to their hit game where they’ve hired Utaha and Eriri to help out.
Final Thoughts
There’s not much to cover here. What you see is what you get. It’s the final chapters to a great story and it ends on a good note. While there are a few moments left out for the sake of time they still keep the important moments in such as Tomoya and Megumi realizing their feelings, Utaha and Eriri realizing that they’ve lost and begging Tomoya for help when they honestly have no right to and seeing them all gather up again years later as adults where they’re living the lives they wanted. I guess the only side is Michiru and Izumi really playing little to no major role. Like they both kind of accepted their defeats long ago and are cheering on Megumi. While I was cheering for Utaha, I have to admit that Megumi is the best choice for Tomoya. She stuck with him through thick and thin, became his rock, got mad when he couldn’t get mad, made his dream a reality and helped him grow as a creator. The animation and music are top quality as you would expect from a movie and once again it gave us a satisfying end to the series. Can it be cringy, awkward and a little self-indulging to some? Yes. But, you love it all the same.
Final Score
The finale of Saekano gets a 7.5/10. If you liked the animess then you’ll like the movie and the ending. Looking back, it probably could have worked as a third season but I still think the movie was the best route to go for this series. Now, let’s get the spinoff an anime. Please~? Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.