Summary
Warning: This contains spoilers for Blast of Tempest, currently streaming onCrunchyroll.
Media is filled with tragic and memorable deaths, but while resurrection is pretty easy to write into a story, it’s hard to dowellbecause it can easily feel unearned or like it cheapens the death prior. Perhaps that’s why the mid-series end of Masahiro Ando’sBlast of Tempesthits differently; it features not only a clever resurrection but a phenomenally unique and patient climax.
Blast of Tempestaired in the Fall of 2012 and wasa Shakespearean-infused modern fantasythat quoted the great playwright’s work incessantly, accompanied by a fittingly dramatic score by Michiru Oshima. It follows two young men on a journey to save the world and solve a murder, aided remotely by a witch who has been banished to an island.
RELATED:8 Best Movies Based on Shakespeare Plays
The Context
To set up this climax and why this resurrection of a dead character is so great, some background is in order. Yoshino Takigawa and Mahiro Fuwa are best friends, and despite how cold Mahiro’s sister, Aika, acts around Yoshino, the two are secretly dating. However, when Aikasuddenly and suspiciously is killed, Mahiro falls into despair and anger, disappearing, never knowing the truth about his sister and his best friend.
A month passes and Mahiro returns just in time to save Yoshino as a strange entity is turning the inhabitants of their town into stone. In the time since he was gone, Mahiro found a message in a bottle from a witch named Hakaze Kusaribe, who has been marooned on an island to prevent her brother Samon from bringing about a force that could possibly end the world. The catch is that if Mahiro helps Hakaze, she will help him reveal the truth behind Aika’s death.
So begins the combination of two seemingly separate narratives, all heading in the same direction,as if brought together by fate. Yoshino and Mahiro communicate with Hakaze through a magic doll, and with the witch’s guidance, find the tools necessary to battle the Kusaribe clan and hopefully prevent the end of the world.
The Stage
Picture this: it’s nearing the end of the first half of the series. Yoshino and Mahiro have journeyed across a dreary Japan in the Winter, met new allies, and fought fearsome foes. Now, the antagonists are in the midst of a ritual to bring about a power that may be the undoing of the world. Meanwhile, the Japanese Self-Defense Force is launching a full-scale attack.
Guided by Hakaze, the two young men approach the base of the Tree of Exodus, where Mahiro will use a special talisman inthe form of a Heckler and Koch MP5. If fired, it will destroy the barrier, so it’s a bargaining chip to convince the enemy to teleport Hakaze back to the mainland. But there, in the middle of the forest, atop a hill, is Samon, Hakaze’s brother, intent on convincing them to stand down - “convince” being the operative word.
The Twist
From the outset, Hakaze and her two companions have won, and she’s not afraid to say it. All it will take is a single pull of the trigger from Mahiro and Samon has lost, but Samon isn’t so easily defeated. He tells them that they aren’t saving the world, but furthering its destruction and that what they’ve been told is a lie.
What makes the drama ofBlast of Tempestso compelling is that it hinges on uncertainty. Hakaze and Samon, these two siblings from a clan of mages, are only battling one another because of their competing understanding of forces that no one truly comprehends. Like death and the afterlife, there arethings that humans simply cannot know, but they nevertheless fight to the death over. This is the first weapon Samon uses to try and sway the two boys.
Unfortunately, even if Yoshino were to be swayed - even a little, Mahiro is a rare breed. He doesn’t care about the world where his sister died senselessly. He only cares about finding Aika’s killer. If Hakaze can help him achieve that goal, then he’ll help her. He might be one of the most Chaotic Neutral characters in anime. With him in possession of the talisman, he holds all the cards and he is the one the rest of the cast need to convince.
Therefore, if Samon wishesto bring Mahiro over to his side, he need only convince him that Hakaze cannot fulfill his wish. From a barrel eerily similar to the one on the island with Hakaze, he produces a skeleton that he says is Hakaze’s. At first, the boys think it to be ridiculous; they’ve been speaking to her the whole show.
When they ask her what year it is, she tells them it’s two years prior.
The Battle
This is the foundation upon which the next four episodes play out. With barely a bullet fired or a drop of blood shed between Yoshino, Mahiro, Hakaze, and Samon, these four engage in a mental game of chess with everything on the line. It’s a highly unusual kind of climax thatremains tense thanks to great directionand even better music.
With Hakaze dead, Samon simply has to fulfill her promise to Mahiro himself. Yoshino desperately thinks of a way in which to save everyone. Up to this point, the story has felt like a tragedy likeHamlet, which the characters have quoted constantly. Yoshino thinks back to his conversations with Aika and is reminded of another Shakespeare play - one which ends happily, and which this Anime shares a name:The Tempest.
This series uses Shakespeare’s work not merely as an inspiration or motif, but as a thematic tool to drive its characters forward. Yoshino has to either prove that Hakaze’s death is a lie or that she can still be saved. Her death is referred to as a “Prison of time,” as the likelihood ofsaving her without creating a paradoxseems impossible. However, If there was the slightest chance of Samon’s plan failing, he’d have needed a way to bring her back, so therehasto be a way.
The answer was right in front of them; Hakaze’s skeleton. After three episodes of tense bargaining, theorizing, and heated debate over who or what is responsible for Aika’s death, Samon’s secret plan to bring Hakaze back is revealed. All she needs to do is teleport her flesh from the past onto her skeleton in the present.
The framing of this conflict perfectly illustrates the fluctuating scales of power. In the beginning, Samon has the high ground, looking down on them, but after a brief fight, suddenly Yoshino is atop the hill as he begins to turn the tide. Mahiro is constantly framed in between Yoshino and Samon, reflecting how he’s functionally neutral while hinting at his shifting allegiances.
Even without a big, flashy fight, the visual storytelling punctuates this mental battle with ample substance. There are even more layers to this conflict than what is written here, but the greatest takeaway is thatBlast of Tempestis a delightfully unique showcase of dramatic buildup for its medium and genre. It’s one thing to read about it and another to see it, so for those who don’t mind the spoiler, this show is well worth a binge.
