Amagami SS Tsukasa Arc and Series End

The best thing I can say about Tsukasa’s arc is that at least it was the best one next to Sae’s. Tsukasa was a far more complex character than any other heroine in Amagami SS, which made for some entertaining drama at the first half. However, as this show has done time and again, it failed to follow through on its potential, and the arc ended all too conveniently. The final episode, a separate story dedicated to a 7th girl Risa, was a fitting end to the series that brought forward everything that was wrong with this show.

It started off with promise, to be sure. The cliffhanger ending to episode 21 was well done (and really hot, by the way), giving us a glimpse of the selfish side of Tsukasa for the first time. And though her coming clean almost immediately at the start of episode 22 was a bit disappointing, it didn’t change the fact that there was still something dark, something interesting within her. Plus, that episode also had more of Tsukasa’s odd sister. The mystery of their relationship was actually intriguing.

But as has been the case so many times already with this show, all the potential from the first couple episodes was wasted and never amounted to anything. The notebook wasn’t brought up again until it was burned, without giving us much of a clue as to its contents. Tsukasa’s apparently strained relationship with her sister wasn’t explored further.

Sorry, apparently you weren't important enough to have explained to us why your sister was so ashamed of you.

What was explored a bit in the 2nd half of the arc was Tsukasa’s bullheadedness and hubris when it came to preparing the Founder’s Festival. Her getting bullied was another plot point that had potential. But this was solved all too simply by Tsukasa seemingly flipping a switch and becoming a different person in episode 3. There was more potential with Junichi confronting her about this, saying that that wasn’t the Tsukasa he liked, but things just fizzled at the end with a good hug and crying about a bad Santa memory from her childhood.

Where was the real identity crisis? Where was the struggle to find out who she truly was? And, most importantly, where was the romance? At least in some of the other arcs, we got to see the romance between the couples develop organically. In this one, Tsukasa just ups and decides that she likes Junichi. And, of course, Junichi accepts. Who could say no to the hot class president?

What was in that notebook again? You only hastily confronted the protagonist while wearing just a swimsuit when you realized he had it. Couldn't be anything important.

This arc’s ending wasn’t downright offensive like Haruka’s, but it also featured a “10 years later” ending, which means that the series has been bookended with arcs featuring such endings. And just like with Haruka’s ending, this one served as a reminder that we missed out on all the interesting parts of the romance, the struggles and conflicts sure to arise between the two after they become lovers. Instead, we get to see them already with a family, happily ever after, etc.

So this was yet another unsatisfying, uninteresting arc. That’s 5/6 for those keeping score at home. To its credit, Tsukasa’s arc remained potentially interesting for the longest time with potentially the most complex and juicy character developments compared to the other failed arcs. But it couldn’t escape its seemingly inevitable fate as an Amagami SS story of hastily wrapping things up with no facing of the real issues and no exploring of meaningful plot or character threads.

Series End and Risa episode

If you’ve read this far down, it should be abundantly clear that I did not enjoy Amagami SS. The final episode really epitomized the attributes that made the show fail as a piece of romantic fiction. Risa’s stalking behavior was mysteriously successful, merely for the convenience of the show. Seriously, if girls were that easily swayed by one doctored photo shown to them by someone they didn’t know, the entire genre of drama would cease to exist. Furthermore, Risa’s disturbing and borderline insane behavior was accepted by Junichi without a blink of an eye because, well, she’s the heroine this time, which means he had to accept her. This also meant that this actually interesting aspect of Risa’s personality, one that could have been fodder for character development, was glossed over. And finally, everything got resolved easily by a few simple apologies.

I’m not even sure “wish fulfillment” would the proper way to describe this piece of work. Because, generally, works of that sort have people going through interesting lives, having interesting interactions with interesting people, reaching a resolution in some interesting way. Amagami SS gives just hints of those before skipping all that right to the “resolution” part. The only times when this show was actually entertaining was when it was actively making fun of itself – as was the case with Sae’s arc, the only good one of the lot – or presented some insane or absurd situation, such as the ramen eating scene from Ai’s arc. Everything else was sterile, devoid of humor, emotion, or drama. It was, in a word, boring.

As much as I hate the forced drama of a lot of anime – Key’s works such as Kanon or Clannad in particular – I think I prefer that to the complete lack of it in this show. Amagami SS isn’t just a show that underdelivers; it’s legitimately a bad show, void of what makes shows entertaining. Even Sae’s arc was only decent, made great by the fact that it followed – and was followed by – the very horrible arcs that it was parodying. Seen by itself, it was a slightly humorous self-referencing piece of comedy with a bad and borderline offensive romance story underneath. It may be too late for you or me, but please, tell your friends, tell your family, time spent watching this show would be better spent taking a nap. At least then, you have a chance of dreaming something with actual entertainment value.

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