GetBackers Chapter 83 Discussion

                        ----------------------------------------

                       



Thus ends the Return to the Infinity Fortress arc, the first truly massive arc in the series. Considering the longest arc prior was only 12 chapters and this clocked in at 48, that is four times the story any arc of GetBackers has provided us. So was this story arc four times better than anything that came before?



Nah, I still prefer The Sound of Life arc, for all the reasons I said in that arc. But this is probably my second favourite arc though, there was a lot of good here, although I did feel myself getting a tad exhausted by it's length at times and how action-heavy it got. That's a problem because the fights in GetBackers aren't really any good. The choreography isn't memorable (and personally, sometimes not legible but I fully admit that could be on me) and there's very rarely any clever interactions between abilities. That's not to say that GetBackers fights don't have value to them, their value is entirely on providing cool moments, and yeah, it often succeeds. And while I can certainly fist bump to some awesome action panel or moment, the individual fights themselves are very rarely engaging. There's not much depth to the combat I guess, but that's fine because typically the focus is elsewhere.



The most elaborate fight was Kazuki vs. Juubei, that lasted like three chapters in a row, and a lot of it was more a discussion between Kazuki and Juubei. When Ban fought Fudou, the emphasis narratively and from Ban was on Ginji returning to the Lightning Lord. So it's not like a massive flaw, but when there's still so many of the battles, my interest does tend to wane. And while she did have her moments, I can't help but feel like Himiko got the short end of the stick, and with the ecchi nature of the series and the fact that Himiko was often the victim of it even during her serious encounters, it starts rubbing me the wrong way, not the rubbing they intend.



Complaints aside I did enjoy this. Akabane is a constant source of amusement and intrigue, his dynamic with Ginji was a constant highlight throughout. They did a pretty good job of setting up encounters. Both Ginji and Ban got a lot to do and the arc also set up a lot for the series moving forward. The supporting characters mostly all played there roles really well, and I liked that it wasn't just defeat the evil guy and get the thing. Emishi, Juubei, Makubex, a lot of the antagonists were good-hearted people who needed help, most of them turned to Makubex who is definitely my favourite, especially since he was the one who was defeated the least with a battle. Instead it was more so Ban's vision and Ginji's declaration that he'd be sad if he died, nice combination. I also think the lore of the Infinity Fortress is pretty neat.



This final chapter was fun. I liked them including Ren being unable to leave, it was an off-hand comment that some characters were unable to exist outside there, so bringing that back at the end is a pretty sad note to leave them on, while also continuing to add mystery to the Infinity Fortress. The anime dub I watched called it the Limitless Fortress and I'm still finding myself having to mentally correct myself every-time I type here.



But otherwise, the chapter was mostly fun, Akabane destined to kill Manji's forever, and Ginji actually microwaving the disc, I didn't think that gag was going to keep going but I'm so glad it did. And the Makubex thing with Gen was sweet.