It’s a musical outro.
And… That’s basically it for the episode. Turns out everything they wanted to address in this version of the story, they basically did. Thus, the last episode is basically just a half-hour VWP concert with a little story jammed between the musical numbers. As such, I’ll take this chance to reflect on the show as a whole
We open with Rime, heir to the most orphaned plot arcs and opportunities for exploration not taken, as she examines some artifacts from her Father’s place. Of all the girls, Rime is the only one who actually feels like she was kind of squandered. We never did much with the fact that her dad was the mastermind behind Fragment technology, and we never delved into her inner world the way we did with the other major characters. We got hints and opportunities, like when she was stranded in the spiral stair dimension, but very little payoff. As such, she’s probably the character I have the least opinion about. She does her song number later and it continues to answer nothing about who she is or what she’s been through.
Next we get Koko, fighting lingering Tesseractors with her big musical number and impressive ice magic. Not only is this the most visually stunning number of the episode and one of my favorites in terms of the sound, Koko is the character who, by far, got the best development. The entire Kugel arc all belonged to her, and we even got to see how she was able to push forward coming out of that. She’s a remarkably solid character, one who would hold her own in even a stronger production and if all of the Witchlings had gotten focus on her level we’d have been in for a real treat.
Haru is next, helping her district rebuild. Haru is sort of like Rime in that she consistently almost had a theme, but she had a clearer voice and a more distinctive style, so on the whole I found her perfectly servicable. It also helps that unlike Hastur (Rime’s familiar), Agni (Haru’s familiar) was the boldest and most colorful of the lot, and may have even gotten the most lines despite the plot magentism of Laplace and Kugel. So as a unit they made more of an impression than Haru would have made alone, while for Rime, Kafu, and Sekai, the witchling is basically carrying all the interest.
We then dispense with setting up songs at all and just go into the musical numbers for Rime, Sekai, and Kafu.
Sekai, like Haru, had a solid voice and theme. She was the waif prophet and church girl, that was her thing. Hat aside, I never liked her quite as much as Haru but I have to admit that she did at least have her day early on when the other girl from her old church was used as a sacrifice, which given her gift of foresight ended up saying a lot about Sekai. She did pretty much coast for the rest of the show, but as more of a side character there are worse sins she could have committed.
Finally, Kafu. Kafu was our main character and main center… I think. Again, Koko had the better plot and the greater insight into her character, but we start with Kafu, we end with Kafu, we follow Kafu through the live action episode… she’s pretty clearly meant to be this show’s center. And, okay, in a show that is relentlessly dark for ten of thirteen episodes, the fact that Kafu is the cutie who we break the hardest means she kind of has to be the center. That’s the experience that Kamitsubaki city is selling itself on. And it is a mixed bag.
On one hand, the events of the story are relentlessly miserable. You do believe, when they beat Kafu all the way down, that she would be beaten down and could give into despair. In terms of selling that moment where the final cycle is ended by a Witchling’s song, congrats, you did it.
On the other hand, for most of the show Kafu wasn’t someone we exactly understood, other than the idea that she was just kind of normal I guess.
I think the biggest thing that Kamitsubaki City Under Construction didn’t do was establish who Kafu was and what she wanted. What did being a witchling mean to her? How did she deal with her replacement mom getting axed? What did those years since the first blackout mean to her?
Which makes it kind of funny to me that unless we missed her in a background shot, we never saw that character reconstructed. To deal with the last little bit of plot that gets us our headline ensemble song, it turns out the end of last episode didn’t resurrect a lot of people, only those who were connected to the thoughts and feelings of the Witchlings directly. However, they say they can bring back the rest of the city by connecting with outer people and adding their thoughts and feelings to the mix, in order to reach other memories. And that’s just what they do. We bring lots of folks back, like that woman who lost her kids in Kugel’s rampage, church NPCs, the church girl who was sacrificed to rebuild the barrier in episode 3 as part of the first wave… but the lady who basically raised Kafu? Unless I missed her in a background shot, she’s still MIA. You don’t think that bond might be worthwhile? I get it if folks lost in the original blackout, which may not have been covered by Phenomenon, were off limits so we can’t get Kafu’s bio parents or anything, but that lady was around pretty recently before getting butchered so I can’t see why she wouldn’t be there when church girl is, and I think that whether she’s remade or not that would have some kind of impact on Kafu that it would be nice to see at least hinted at.
Anyway, that’s the end of the show: Kamitsubaki City is Under Construction, but the future is bright as its people are brought back by community and magic music to live in their digital world. Sophia? Sekai is glad she was real I guess. Noah? Never addressed. Maxwell? Dead. The giant cocoon made from Maxwell’s ultimate form? Just kind of there acting as a fragment conduit I guess. We’re done.
At least, we’re done with this version. I went into Kamitsubaki City knowing nothing of the “project” or VWP, total sight unseen. And I like to keep things that way because it means looking at the anime fairly as its own thing and giving it a fair grade in the end. But I am aware of production notes. Including here the footnote that there’s a VN/Adventure game of Kamitsubaki City Under Construction, subtitled Regenerate, and that it has a play time that’s close to 40 hours. 40 hours is a lot of VN, not quite on par with Muv Luv or Fate/Stay Night but certainly up there when you consider that Fate, for instance, adapted a single route (of three) into a 2-cour series with Unlimited Bladeworks. So maybe the sense of incompleteness in the show is no accident.
So, speaking of the show, specifically… Well as an advert for VWP, it kind of works. The music is good, and when they actually put in the effort for choreography (like they do in this episode) it’s actually really good to. Again, I had never heard of them before starting this show, and I’m sorely tempted to just listen to some of their songs because they’re good work.
But as a narrative show? This Dark Fantasy, Scifi, Magical Girl sort of blend that’s pitch black and far more bitter than sweet? It leaves a good deal to be desired.
Kamitsubaki City Under Construction isn’t godawful by any means. When you look at its core elements it has good animation (provided you’re not lethally biased against CG), and a story that’s no worse than mediocre. Its pacing is compelling (if sometimes a bit too fast), its characters range from serviceable up to decent, its plot is mediocre at worst, and its climax is actually pretty good. This is a perfectly watchable show.
But… can I recommend watching it? Let’s be honest here, we’re human beings with finite lifespans and finite time to watch Anime. For whom would I say it was worthwhile to spend some of that time on Kamitsubaki City? For whom would it be the go-to?
I think if you’re a VWP fan, you already have your own opinion, whether this entry is more of what you love or an affront to it, and nothing I say is going to matter. If you’re not…
Have you watched Madoka Magica and Yuki Yuna yet? Do you hunger for more? Then this is a better place to go than Magical Girl Raising Project or Magical Girl Site at least! They’re low bars to clear but Kamitsubaki City does clear them. The Witchlings aren’t traditionally styled magical girls, nor do they ever use the term, but they’ve sort of got the right vibe. At the same time, within this bizarrely populated narrow bracket, I’d probably still rate Kamitsubaki City lower than Day Break Illusion, which I know a lot of folks didn’t enjoy as much as I did. But then, I’m the reviewer here and I did legitimately like that one.
For Kamitsubaki City, I’m more lukewarm. In the end, I’d rate it a C, maybe a C+ to be generous to the music.