Elf Sternberg

Huzzah! Glad that you finally finished it. I thought the ending (well, the dramatic ending) was a bit deus ex machina, but given the tone the series was shooting for up front I think it would've been dishonest to go for a really down ending; I was expecting a Big Reset Button of some sort to be pushed, and I thought the way they pushed it was a decent one.

As far as the comedic ending: while some of the bits surprised me too, overall I was really pleased to see it; some of the casual moments ranked with the series' best (Akira's glee at slicing the apple being my favorite example). My impression of the whole thing was that it was basically the production crew saying 'okay, all the gloom and doom is done now. Thanks for sticking with us through the really dark times. Here, have a lollipop.'

One thing to look for, BTW, that some folks in the forums have commented on: there's what looks like a clear lead-in to the next series, at least character-wise, around 23:30 into the Static-Subs fansub (right after the conversation about the future being less certain, after they close the door and we get Mai's 'something happened' reaction)...