Shironeko Project: Zero Chronicle (Episode 11) – The Distant Sky

The Prince of Darkness has been taken into custody while the final battle between Dark and Light begins. Can the light overcome the suffocating force of darkness or will they fade into nothing?
What happened?
Darkness attacks with wave after wave of goblins, monsters, and winged demons. It’s far more than the light side had anticipated or was ready to deal with. Then, when you add in the number of whites that are being turned to darkness, it’s looking pretty bleak. Iris attacks the King of Darkness head on and appears to be no match for him. In a moment of desperation, they attempt to use a powerful spell that would alter their fate, but it’s too late. The King of Darkness was ready for that and his preparations go back too far to be undone.

What did you think?
Well, I was expecting this series to have a darkest before the light moment and this was it, although it was less of a gruelling battle against incredible odds that a bit of a massacre. It makes it hard to believe that Light has prevailed for so long. I still find it odd that Darkness fights with monsters and demons when everyone we’ve seen in the land of darkness are regular people. This episode really didn’t deliver on anything it tried to put forward. There was no tension or feeling of imminent doom. It was all just a little pedestrian. I want to compare it to the battle of Helm’s Deep from the Lord of the Rings which is what this should have been, but it’s not even close. In fact, I feel a little dirty just mentioning it in the review.

What have you learnt?
You can’t just throw some baddies at the goodies and have them slowly get defeated and expect anyone to care. Even when they were killing their own that had succumbed to darkness, there was no feeling. Surely, that should have been hard for them, but there was no emotion at all. If the characters don’t care, why would the audience? This series has spent so much time doing nothing with its characters that we’ve got to the big battle and it’s almost meaningless. I certainly don’t care who wins or if the as yet un-named Prince of Darkness shows up.

Other reviews in the series
- Season One
- Episode 1 – The Land Protected by Light
- Episode 2 – The World’s Egoism
- Episode 3 – The Grief-Stricken Queen of Light
- Episode 4 – The Messenger from Black
- Episode 5 – United Front
- Episode 6 – The Gray-Green Demoness
- Episode 7 – Picking Wild Greens
- Episode 8 – A Promise
- Episode 9 – The Queen of Light and the Prince of Darkness
- Episode 10 – The Gentle Song of Darkness
- Episode 11 – The Distant Sky
- Episode 12 – The Sin of the Beginning
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