Search - Kimagure Orange Road TV Series Vol. 12 on DVD

A Great Finale to a Great Series

Zach | Pennsylvania, PA USA | 05/15/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a great DVD. The final three episodes are some of the greatest the series has to offer. The first episode, however, is nothing that special. In "Hikaru Passes Away: And Then There Were None" Madoka asks Hikaru and Kasuga to taste test some of the items she wants to put on ABCB's new menu. Kasuga, wanting to be alone with Madoka, wishes Hikaru would get ill and have to stay home, just for that day. But then she dies. It's not like this is meant to be a really emotional episode (at least I hope not) because anyone with half a brain should be able to realize that they're not actually going to kill off Hikaru, and that in the end of the episode you'll find out what's really going on (I'm not going to think that I just ruined the ending for you if you haven't watched this episode yet, due to the obviousness that she won't die). It ends up being kind of stupid, humorous at best, because of some of the radical things the characters to in mourning her death (the government makes it a national holiday, Kasuga's dad quits being a photographer, Kurumi and Manami...forget it, I won't want to spoil that for you). But overall it's not horrible.

A real treat is the following episode, "One Snow-White Night! Two, Alone Inside a Gondola," which holds plenty smiles for radical "Kyosuke and Madoka" fans. First, on a skiing trip, Kazuya decides to help Yuusaku get closer to Hikaru. So he tricks Kasuga into going into Hikaru and Madoka's hotel room while Madoka is showering (and Hikaru's somewhere else). Since the rooms are identical he doesn't realize he's in the wrong room and he begins changing. Then Kyosuke (in his boxers) walks into the bathroom, only to find Madoka showering! He wonders why she's showering in his room. Hikaru then walks in the room, and Madoka (out of the shower and into a towel) grabs Kasuga and the two try to hide from Hikaru in the bathroom, which means being squeezed together on the floor of the bath tub, out of Hikaru's sight. This goes on for a while as Kurumi and Manami try to find out if Madoka and Hikaru's bathroom is identical to theirs. After this is over, Madoka and Kasuga go off to ski without the rest of the group's company, and end up getting stuck in one of the gondolas together (a ski lift, if you don't know what a gondola is). He and Madoka worry that the others will worry about them, which prompts Kasuga to try to move the gondola with the power. He messes up, and ends up breaking the gondola's windows, letting all the snow and cold air come in. He and Madoka huddle together in a blanket. Kasuga can't teleport because he used most of his power earlier when he broke the windows by accident. With the last ounce of his power, he tries to communicate with Kazuya, his last hope. I'll leave it at that.

Then, in the final two-part series-closer, Kasuga finds out about Madoka's first love, with whom she shared her first kiss and made a promise with to meet at the big tree in 6 years. Kasuga (not bothering to realize that 6 years ago means that Madoka was 9) gets extremely jealous. He ends up going back in time 6 years, where he finds out who Madoka's first love is (I'm not telling)...and he's even there when the two share their first kiss! Then Kasuga's grandpa sends Madoka back in time 6 years, where she and Kasuga meet up (both are trapped in the past). Then, Kasuga gets trapped in a parallel universe where he never existed. He then meets Madoka for the first time in ABCB where she's still a punk because Kasuga was never there to turn her around. And soon things are resolved and the ending will leave you grinning. Now you better pop in those OAVs and watch the two movies!"