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ローゼンメイデン 
November 22, 2003 | 
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Well, not really. But that is the case in the penultimade episodes of X: the Series. For those who don't know about the series, X is basically an end of the world story which has its origin from a manga created by CLAMP. It chronicles the lives of 7 people who are chosen to defend humanity and another 7 who are chosen to destroy humanity which has ruined the Earth to the point of no return. The TV series is an attempt to re-tell this story using different perspectives from the one used on the movie version called X/1999. The following is a discussion about the ending. But before I say anything further, I better cut this entry to avoid the wrath of unspoiled viewers.
I'm personally satisfied with the ending of the TV series. I mean it's not exactly my ideal ending but it's acceptable in comparison to the movie. I've always had a problem with the ending of the movie where Kamui wants to protect his best friend, Fuuma, but ended up decapitating him instead due to forces beyond his control. That ending feels hollow, it makes it seem as if Kamui is just a chess piece who can't do anything to protect the people that he wants to protect the most. What I like about the TV series is the fact that Kamui tries his best to achieve the future that he wants to see. So when he chose to sacrifice himself so that Fuuma can return to his normal life, the ending feels very powerful because Kamui finally refuses to be governed by 'fate'.
In addition to that, this ending also makes perfect sense within the context of the story. I always see "Dark Kamui" as the manifestation of Kamui's wish to get rid of humanity and the "Light Kamui" as the one that wants to protect humanity. Human Kamui and Fuuma are simply vessels which carried these wishes. When human Kamui decided that he wants to protect his friends, the other side of him had to seek for other vessel to carry the wish of protecting the Earth. What better way to do this than to use the body of Kamui's best friend?
Those who have seen the series from the start would have known that earlier in the series, Kamui didn't care about the future of the Earth. All he wants is to protect Fuuma and Kotori, the only two people who were ever kind to him when he was a kid. Now, what happens if 'the future of the Earth' is given a face? That of his best friend, Fuuma? After all, humans tend to care only when things become personal to them. By making Fuuma the avatar of Earth's wishes, Dark Kamui indirectly forces Kamui to see protecting the Earth as something that is equally important to protecting his friends. I think acknowledging the existence and importance of his other 'self' is what lead Kamui to his decision in that final episode.
Other observations: when Kamui's Shinken (sword) is broken into pieces, Dark Kamui lets him on this secret: as long as Kamui keep challenging him to a battle, Kamui will never be awakened as a true Dragon of Heaven. On top of this, if Kamui tries to kill the person the person that he wants to protect the most (Fuuma) with the Shinken, he'll fail to harness the Shinken's true power. It's an interesting scene that partly explains why the Shinken of one party always ends up broken in both versions of the story (movie and TV series). In the movie, it was Fuuma/Dark Kamui who attempted to strike Kamui with the Shinken. Kamui simply stand still and cry a bit, then pulled out his sword at the last second to defend himself, and in the process, shattered Fuuma's Shinken and decapitated Fuuma. With the TV series, we got the reverse, it's Kamui who tries to strike a death blow to Fuuma with the Shinken. Fuuma simply stands still and does nothing until the last second, where he pulls out his Shinken to protect himself, causing Kamui's Shinken to shatter into pieces.
I find this part of the story to be very interesting and intriguing because it raised a lot of questions. For example, what are the Shinkens? Why are they partly made of bio-material instead of metal? What is the Shinken's true purpose? If I have to guess, I think the 2 Shinkens are the elements that could have been used to save the world without requiring sacrifice from anyone. But since one of the Shinkens end up being broken thus far (at least in the movie and TV version), a sacrifice is needed to save Earth and humanity. It is, therefore, unfortunate that the TV series never got around to touch upon this issue. But all is not lost because the manga version of the story is still not finished yet. There is possibility that these issues will be dealt with in the manga version. I also hope that the manga will manage to pull an ending that is entirely different from the movie and the TV series.
Note:
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