Sakuna: Of Rice And Ruin

Episode 13

So after a bit of an odd detour last week, it's time for the final battle and…it sure is a final battle all right. While the show has sometimes struggled to hide its video game origins up to now, this episode really takes the cake, as the finale is one massive barrage of JRPG cliches. It all certainly makes for a pretty action packed conclusion, but compared to what came before, a lot of this just kind of feels like it's going through the motions.

For the most part, this episode focuses on Sakuna's battle with Omizuchi as she goes with Kokorowa and the Ashigumo into the secret river where he's been hiding out this whole time. Sadly, when we finally get to meet the big snake, he's not all that interesting. He does make a point of saying that Sakuna trying to fight him would only spread more hate, but for the most part it just comes off as final boss dialog rather than anything meaningful, as he spends the rest of the time either going on about how he's the enemy of both gods and humans or how he's going to make Sakuna into his next meal. The actual fight isn't all that exciting, either, as while it looks pretty competent, there isn't quite enough visual flair to compensate for how cliche everything else feels. I'll at least say that I got a kick out of how awkwardly the fight transitioned to Omizuchi's second phase as he suddenly starts going on about his ultimate form with no real indication that anything actually changed, but beyond that I found myself tuning out of a lot of this.

About the only thing that really stood out here was how the fight actually ends, but not exactly for the best reasons. When Sakuna finds herself getting overwhelmed by Omizuchi's ultimate form, a piece of the blade that makes up Tama's true form ends up slicing him open out of nowhere and Tama is suddenly revived. I'm assuming there was some in-game cutscene or something to explain this, or at least give the moment some dramatic buildup, but without that it just comes off as a weird Deus Ex Machina. Even if that was part of the original game, tossing it in this way just kind of makes Tama's whole send-off last week feel like an even bigger waste of time, and it feels like the show would have been better off leaving most of that out.

As the battle comes to an end, Sakuna has a surprise reunion with her parents as we learn that part of Kaimaru's newly acquired divinity includes the ability to commune with souls (also he can talk now, but that's less weird comparatively). After showing them how far she's come, she returns to her companions and goes back to her peaceful farming life with them and brings a few kappas along for the ride. For how much the show has otherwise stuck to going at its own pace, this all goes by relatively quickly, and it's a little underwhelming, but it doesn't really do anything wrong, either, so on the whole it's a perfectly okay ending, even if I wish it was a little stronger.

Lukewarm finale aside, I had a decent time with this show. I liked it's relatively chill vibes, and it got me a lot more interested in the ins and outs of rice farming than I ever expected to be, so I can't say I didn't get anything out of it. I don't think it was ever able to stand enough on its own as an adaptation to feel like I wouldn't have been better off playing the original game instead, but it did enough well that it actually got me pretty curious about checking it out. That's about all you can really ask of most video game adaptions, so if nothing else, I can't say it didn't do it's job.

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Sakuna: Of Rice And Ruin is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.