©Ino Asano/Shogakukan/DeDeDeDe Committee
Hey, if you were wondering when episode 0 takes place, now you know the answer: right before, the final episode. Picking up right where the episode left off, Makoto, Futaba, and Nobuo set out on a journey to the parallel universe transfer machine that Ouran used (in the other timeline) to send her memories to this world. This quest allows us to tie up all the loose ends of the story while also giving us something resembling a happy ending.
In the ruined world, we see that, perhaps, Kadode and Ouran used their video game skills to become mecha pilots. Although the sudden change from ordinary girls to the main characters of the movie may seem a bit odd at first, it actually makes quite a lot of sense for their characters. We know that, deep down, Kadode wants to fight for justice, to help the helpless and oppressed. And who is more oppressed than the people of this world? Furthermore, it also gives her the ability to fulfill her childhood dream of flying in the sky. As for Ouran, she stays by Kadode's side and blows things up. I have no doubt that they are both happy until the very end.
Meanwhile, Kenichi finally gets his just deserts when his delusions of grandeur are met by an orbiting green death laser. Too bad Hikari dies along with him, meaning the AI robots will forever continue their genocide against humanity. But then again, when have the assholes in the government ever cared about anyone but themselves? So in a story beat that feels painfully true, it’s the rich and powerful who come out on top.
As for Nobuo, he is a man with no reason to live in this world. His family is dead, everything he knows and loves is gone. He is given the chance to save his daughter—even if it is in another world—and so he takes it. Although both Makoto and Futaba can use machines, neither of them does so. Unlike Nobuo, both of them still have things important to them in this world—people to love and reasons to fight.
The second half of the episode mostly introduces us to this new timeline. Instead of the two naturally coming together or Ouran saving Kadode from bullies, Nobuo is able to convince Kadode to approach Ouran first. This leads to a fusion of the two previous versions of the characters. Kadode is stubborn (though not dangerous) and Ouran is still shy but confident enough to live his own life.
Somehow, their initial friendship manages to avoid both Kadode's murder and the alien invasion, and we see brief glimpses of how the two grew up together. These scenes are filled with interesting beats like them still being friends with Kiho in high school but not meeting Rin and Ai until college (since there was no alien attack, Ai and Rin had no reason to transfer schools). Eventually, Ouran gets a job at SES, working with their new AI-controlled robot friends, and Kadode becomes a manga editor like her father.
Which brings us to the core joke of the series—where Inio Asano clearly puts his cards on the table when it comes to the origin of this series. Kadode pitches an adult version of Zundacchi (this world’s Isobayan) and gets rejected because “sci-fi” doesn’t sell. Then, after Ouran’s press conference, she tries to come up with a better name for Ouran’s cute “Fujin” robots, which are supposed to befriend lonely people. Her brainstorming basically involves combining their names/nicknames in various ways, including one that looks very familiar. By combining “Demon” and “Ouran,” she comes up with “Doraemonn.” In other words, you’ve been treating this as a Doraemon prequel all along.
Meta’s jokes aside, this ending feels a bit disappointing. After all, these aren’t our Kadode and Ouran. While their souls may be similar, they’re not the same girls we’ve been seeing for the past 16 episodes. Still, it at least ends on a hopeful note with the idea that no matter the timeline, as long as they both exist, Kadode and Ouran are destined to be together. This is truly “absolute.”
Rating:
Random thoughts:
I think Oba lied to Nobuo about Kadode and Ouran dying in the main timeline to get him to stay in the new timeline. This would explain the final scene of the series. After all, Futaba says they're working on improving the parallel world's technology and then we get, it looks like our Kadode and Ouran sent an Isobayan manga to their alternate world to read. Maybe I'm just fooling myself, but I want to believe that our seasoned mecha pilots/sliders are still having fun in the ruined world.
→ You know, I don't think I've ever mentioned how much I love the opening theme song written by the original author of the manga, written from Kadode and Ouran's POV, and sung by their voice actresses.
→ Without going into spoilers, I will say that the movie version not only ends before this episode (and episode 0) takes place, but also contains a bonus scene that takes place right after the “end of the world.”
→ Thanks for joining me on this wild ride, especially with all the bumps and subtitles of the early episodes. Now that things are fixed, please be sure to recommend this show to everyone you know. The fact that it barely gets any attention in the West hurts my soul.
Dead Demon's Destruction is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
