GetBackers Chapter 344 Discussion

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                        The final chapter for the most part, was pretty good. To be honest, I'm still not a fan of Amon being resurrected and more importantly, I'm not glad we don't get to see Ban's reunion with her mother. I'm glad we get to know it happens but I feel kinda cheated to spend so much time on it at the end there, the moment I realized we weren't going to see it was not a happy one. Otherwise no real complaints, the life goes on ending is fitting considering the apocalyptic stakes of the final arc. And I was pretty glad to see Ban won't be groping Hevn anymore and it was nice to see Ginji finally just says 100% success rate.



Which for the most part, was pretty good. I'd be lying if I said Get Back The Lost Time was one of my favorite arcs of the series though. There was definitely strong elements, most of the stuff directly relating with Ginji and Ban were great, I really enjoyed seeing Paul, it had some of the best fights like Yukihiko vs. Ginji and Ban vs. Akabane, and it continued the nature of the series making sympathetic portrayals of it's villains. Der Kaiser and Yohan particularly were good, Der Kaiser being the best example in the arc. But it was also really long, a lot of the villains built up were dealt with anticlimactically (Voodoo King and Kagami), Professor Makube despite being a crucial figure for awhile barely matters in the end, several characters involved barely get any focus on that note (the Shiki), and most distressingly was Himiko had zero agency in here story.



This does carry into my biggest problem of a whole, the series treatment of Himiko. She spends most of the series either needing to get rescued by Ban (or Kagami in one instance) or being treated for fanservice. This was something that was seemingly improving, The Eternal Bond arc finally gave her a victory of her own (and while she was half-naked, it felt more like nudity than sexualization, so while I prefer it wasn't the case, it wasn't much of an issue) and the Voodoo Child arc had her access new powers and strength but none of that ultimately mattered. After all that build, she's nothing but a damsel in distress for our heroes and a tool for a villain. It's show disappointing that they gave her nothing to do, all she really did was pine for Ban, who turns out was her brother so those scenes have extra ick to them. Beyond that, a lot of the fights just come down to cool moments rather than entertaining choreography or engaging dramatics. There are exceptions of course but even if the series improved on this throughout, they're still exceptions. And there were times that I couldn't quite decipher what was happen, particularly during the action sequences. Which may full well be more on me, but it still affected my enjoyment.



My favourite thing about the series is for sure it's kindness and heart. I love how often the big bad villains in the big action shonen arc had more to them than simply being bad. Divine Design was probably the best in this regard, the kids all had some tragic histories with Sariel's being the best, and Lucifer himself turned out to be more sympathetic and kind than I would've ever imagined. Makubex was basically suicidal and the finale of the first big arc having the main goal to be saving Makubex was touching and great. And Kabuto, who seemed like the series first true pure evil, was shown to be a cause of being a bug almost crushed to death by a human. It doesn't excuse his actions since he was definitely committing evil acts which wasn't really the case with Makubex or Lucifer, but the little Jagan flashback where Ban saves him and says something along the lines "He might be just a little bug but he's trying hard to live his best life" and that maybe none of this would've happened if he was shown a little kindness was genuinely sweet and moving, in large part due to my own relationship with insects and many others who probably wouldn't think twice about swatting a bug or something. The smaller arcs that weren't as action heavier were also often filled with this kindness, usually through Ban's usage of his Evil Eye to provide happy endings or moments when he could. Though even Captain Blood could be seen in a similar category as Kabuto.



And while the fights as a whole weren't great, their could still be plenty of cool action shots and the structure of the series was quite good. A lot of things were built up nicely and I like the contrast between the smaller arcs and the bigger major ones. A lot of the stuff built up nicely to the final arcs too, and I found most if not all the answers to the series many questions and threads satisfactory.



I'm left not really sure where to rank GetBackers, I'm sitting between a 7 & an 8. At the moment, I feel an 8 is more appropriate with my disappoint me with Himiko and not meeting Ban's mom making the ending feel a bit empty, but I'm generous and the high points of the series, where really good and I still have my affection for the series. I've gone back and forth on this quite a bit though, and I could easily see myself changing it to a 7 down the line.