English Dub Review: The Ones Within “JOURNEY GOES ON”
Overview (Spoilers Below):
Before the tenth game, Paka decides to call everyone together and announce a ‘bonus stage’. All the Let’s Players will have 120 minutes inside a game room type area to collect as many coins as possible, which can then be traded for gift items. It starts off easily enough, with everyone eager to play and relax in this low-stakes bonus round.
As the minutes tick by, Akatsuki discovers a weird giant-sized board game and decides to play it. He is doing fine until he lands on a trap space and falls into a pit. Luckily, Himi sees it happen and alerts the others. After they learn that Akatsuki will be trapped if he isn’t out before the 120 minutes are up, they band together and help rescue him by using all their coins on the most expensive gift item: an any wish granted ticket.
Our Take:
This was not a good ending episode. Honestly, I’m still a little disbelieving that this was the final episode, even after I’ve finished watching it. For a show that has continually upped the ante for weird challenges, and with a live viewer count that has to keep rising in order for these kids to get released, ending on something that wasn’t actually the final game feels wrong. I can see how there’s a certain allure for ending on an unexpected note, but this was not the way to do it. I’ve said that JOURNEY GOES ON was a poor ending episode, but how does it fare as a freestanding episode itself? Not too bad, actually.
Paka’s weird whims have always been a fixture of the series, so him deciding to put on a random bonus stage with tons of Paka-themed prizes isn’t that hard to buy. It gives everyone a chance to ‘relax’ after so many death-defying close calls in recent weeks. And by ‘relax’, I mean as much as one can relax in a Paka-built game room. The gambling brings a lot of minor conflict between everyone, which was nice to see to give the episode more flavor since there isn’t really any huge arc. Karin always plays it too safe, while Akatsuki tries to convince her to bet big. Kaikoku likes to run headfirst into a new game, while Zakuro admits to always reading the entire game manual (sometimes on the toilet). There are also some nice nods to classic franchises, like when Akatsuki has to battle a giant monster king Pokemon-esque version of himself.
There are a few minor quibbles I have with the pacing itself. The start of the episode, where Akatsuki and Himiko discover that Makino just might have a girlfriend felt really out of place, especially considering they don’t end up going anywhere with it. Everyone starts asking everyone else if they have significant others, and I was expecting it to end with some sort of coupling up, but nope! As soon as Paka calls them in for the games, the subject is dropped for good. Rather than spend time on this opening segment, I would’ve liked to see more of what was going on with Akatsuki after he’s dropped into the trap. Was he trying to get out? Did he know he only had a small amount of time left? It would’ve been cool to see how he was reacting without knowing what was going on above him.
The dub this week is a solid one, which is nice since it’s the last one in the show. Everyone put on their usual good performances, especially the voice of Paka, who really hammed it up. “You don’t think he’s a player, do you?” Himi is so concerned about Makino’s romantic life! “What even is a girlfriend? Can you purchase one at the store?” Even if it is a bit exaggerated, Akatsuki and Yuzu’s cluelessness is super cute. “Yeah, whatever, fetus!” Anya has the best insults. “We’re too young to admire gambling!” Zakuro is really too pure for this game. “Sorry, I’m just not good at RPGs. Or fighting Panda’s.” Karin doesn’t seem to be that great at anything? Not even horror games, which I thought was supposed to be her specialty?
JOURNEY GOES ON is an okay episode that makes for a bad ending. By itself, it feels like an average episode that should go somewhere as a filler piece around mid-season, or maybe be released as a bonus OVA episode to match its bonus game theme. But robbing us of an epic finale where our heroes finally break a hundred million views is not okay. It’s debatable why the show crew chose to end this way (buy the manga to find out more?) but this was an anime original story, meaning it wasn’t included in the original manga. If they wanted us to buy the comic to find out the ending, this was a poor way of doing it. I’m not motivated enough to invest more time in it after this letdown.
