“Businesses don’t necessarily stay the same forever” is the wisdom dispensed as Miss Kuroitsu and the Monster Development team sit on the precipice of potential change here in this final episode of the show. Superhero stories like the ones based on this show are usually based on some kind of standard status quo, but everything has to change in time for an ending eventually. Obviously, this is not the real end for Miss Kuroitsu; the original manga is still ongoing and the episode makes it clear that the weird antics will continue (with several plot threads, like the ones this series has had, still unresolved). But still, this season finale plays into the idea of changes to series like these and the big climactic endings that can come as a result of those setups. It’s pretty much the exact kind of ending I could have asked for from this show.
One of the cleverest elements of this ending is how they fully integrate the ‘business’ and ‘supervillain’ gimmicks for this one. Mergers and acquisitions are an expected part of corporate business, but you’ve probably never seen such a hostile takeover! The story isn’t even singularly opposed to the idea of Agastia being absorbed into the Zet Arc at first; points are made on the benefit of the resources they would receive, something we know the Monster Development team has struggled with all season. Instead, the main plot boils down to the attitude theme we’ve followed before: Agastia may be evil, but they try not to be idiots about it, while these Zet Arc guys are downright nasty. All good businesses have principles they have to stick to, and as we find out later in the episode, Zet Arc doesn’t even have any respect for monsters or the excellent craftsmanship behind them. Truly inexcusable.
All of this is a quick setup in the service of one big final battle that can bring together all of the disparate players, heroes or villains, from this series to unite against Zet Arc. Even as average as Miss Kuroitsu always has been, the show still sells well enough on this episode (and looks much better than last week’s), mainly because of how much is thrown on screen. It has that strong ‘Everyone’s here!’ sense, with the magical girls, Black Lore, and eventually the Blader himself jumping in not because of any aligned agenda, but simply because they all agree on how much Zet Arc sucks.
There is an appreciation here for the motivational relationship between heroes and villains in toku-style shows among all the other elements that Miss Kuroitsu has lovingly embraced over the middle. Good or bad, those sides are ostensibly loved by audiences regardless because they’re both essential to entertainment. In addition to the main characters shown here, this final battle requires an extended period of time to build on all the local Heroes and their accompanying villains, which the show has addressed throughout its run. It’s a huge indulgence in an ending like this, which stands as a genuine tribute to the very institution of tokusatsu action on which this series is based. Those kinds of local costume live action performances often depend on eliciting applause from the audience throughout them, and it feels like the creators of Miss Kuroitsu here were trying to get that kind of reaction even from the audience. children and adults watching at home.
Not only does it succeed as a parade of real-life character cameos, but it also ties into its own story. Anyone who follows shows like this knows that it’s a big deal when a character gets their own new transformational toy, and who else but Miss Kuroitsu herself would get such a thing for the grand finale here? It even ties into the mechanics of the show, what with the power-up element itself being a ‘monster’ that we saw the Dev Team working on earlier, and what more could we expect from a group of villains’ ultimate plan than a evil version. of the hero they oppose? Maybe Kuroitsu donning the Black Blader outfit herself wasn’t the original idea, but any good toku show knows that it simply has to work with quirks that happen thanks to the quirkiness of the production. And as intended, it comes off as a total fist pump moment when she actually joins in. with Blader here instead of fighting him like they always have.
That overall celebratory metatext is what it does for me with this ending. The Zet Arc leader criticizes the styles of these monsters and heroes as “inefficient” and belittles the smaller budgets they’re forced to work with, but we know those “limitations” are a lot of the things that make tokusatsu what it is. What is it. Those wacky costumes and open poses for attacks may be ‘inefficient’, but they’re also great, and having to work within the confines of budget constraints requires a lot of creativity. “The development of monsters has infinite possibilities” is the wisdom with which Miss Kuroitsu works, and until the end, this has been a small show that proves it. It’s hardly perfect, but it ‘gets it’, and appeals to the fandom’s appreciation in that serious way.
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Miss Kuroitsu From the Department of Monster Development is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
Chris is a freelance writer who appreciates anime, action figures, and additional ancillary art. He can be found up too late posting screenshots on his Twitter.