Accel World - 24 (End) & Final Impressions

Kuroyukihime is such a smooth talker at times that I love her best when she's speechless and flabbergasted like this.

While the show ended fairly predictably, it was also a lot of fun to watch.  It's not surprising that Haru was able to beat Nomi even without his wings, but the fact that it seemed like Chiyu was healing him definitely made me gasp in rage - until it was revealed she only did that to give Haru back his wings.  At the end, Nomi was a rather pitiful character.  Haru didn't take any joy in ending his Brain Burst abilities, but it was something that had to be done, and I'm glad he did it.  However, I definitely did not anticipate Nomi's memory loss and drastic character change.  That surprised the hell out of me! 

As for Chiyu, I thought it showed a lot of foresight and patience on her part to spring this trap on Nomi.  I had always believed that she had a reason for doing what she did, especially since she never seemed like the type to forsake her friends.  If anything, she seemed like the type of person who would do anything for her friends and pretending like she allied herself with Nomi probably hurt her more than anyone else.  The one thing I didn't like though was the ambiguity of whether or not she liked Taku as more than a friend or if it was Haru that she had her sights set on.  Judging from seeing her join the Black Legion, it seems like she's finally acknowledged Hime as the person that Haru likes and will be content on just being his friend.

If there was a second season, I'd watch it.  Ultimately, I enjoyed Accel World despite the unanswered questions and plot holes that I still can't seem to reconcile.  However, I really do wish they had ended the season on a different arc.  The Nomi arc was probably about four or five episodes too long, but I suppose they did a good job in really making me hate the villain.  It seems like they've left things open enough to where a second season is plausible.  It seems like there's a lot that could be done in a second season, especially now that Hime (Sachan?!) and Fuko have reconciled (which was a beautiful scene, by the way).  New characters have also popped up at the end and they never resolved the Chrome Disaster that may or may not have stuck itself onto Haru.