Pumpkin Scissors - Save us, Mer-kun! Crush the thick skin of corruption with the head-chomp of JUSTICE!!!!

I can’t honestly say that I had any intention, at first, of watching Pumpkin Scissors. I waited until well into the series until I picked it up. There was an aversion on my part totally due to the name of the series. Really, “Pumpkin Scissors” doesn’t convey anything about the story. I can’t say that isn’t too unusual for an anime title, but the fact that it was English makes it more cryptic, oddly. I suppose that was the intent; to surround the series with a little mystery and nudge the curious to find out about the show. I fell for it.

It was a good series. I really enjoyed it. It had its faults, but I was largely willing to overlook most of them.

In the end it is evident that the show’s main focusing was on Alice (2nd Lieutenant), which I wasn’t expecting. I fully expected the show to revolve around Oland (the big guy). Please don’t misunderstand me; Oland’s part is huge, but the series’ abrupt end leaves Alice in the limelight. It may have been more interesting if they fleshed out the Oland story, but in hindsight the eventual meaning may have become overshadowed if that was the case.

So what was the story about? You ask. PS is about a rag-tag band of misfits who despite all odds against them manage to do good in a world that tries very hard to oppose them. It was also about Alice, a noble, whose sense of duty and seemingly misguided feelings of honor and faith lead her to rash actions; all in pursuit of fairness and a better world.

If one were inclined one could map this story over many real-life acts of good and charity. Sure, there are good people that do good things. Sure, there are bad people that do bad things. More often than not, it is very hard to tell the difference.

To the viewer, it is clear who is good and who is bad. At least, it would appear to be so (it usually flips around a bit). To the characters, specifically the ones that SS III is supposed to help, it is clear that all those in power are self-serving.

There stands the edifice that is good will. The job of Section 3 is war relief, but they become charged with fighting corruption in the military and government. The implied message is that when those that are governed have no voice, someone must speak for them. Giving voice to the voiceless is perhaps the most that could be accomplished by a realistic SS III. Being that this is an anime, I would be more inclined to believe that it all ends with a superhuman fight.

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I knew someone would post these to youtube the moment I watched the episode.

Now, the best scene...possibly ever.

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Stekkin should have her own show. Just between you and me, I harbored a small hope that Stekkin would be some type of super killing machine, you know, in between periods of seeming inept. Right up until the end of the series I was hoping that she would bust through a window and start using the pumpkin scissors chop attack.

I hope you all enjoyed the comic from last time.