“The Eden of the Grisaia” takes our story arc to its ultimate conclusion. At the end of “Labyrinth”, we discover that the ladies came across Kajima’s notes regarding his report on himself and none of them realized that he was, at least, as damaged as they were and potentially more so than any of them could realize. They want to help him, but things take a hideous downturn.

Kajima’s old master/tutor/mentor/father figure Heath Oslo, has come back to town with an absolutely nefarious scheme that may potentially destroy everyone (except him. But do you really want to groove on the rubble?) Adding to the consternation of all, the Academy’s funding has been turned off and it must shut down, dispensing the ladies onto the winds of the world. But they are saved by the mysterious voice and brain of Thanandos, an entity that can help direct them. This now turns into a giant cat-and-mouse game, as we have to fly under the radar to try and save Yuuji.

The fact that it goes 10 episodes made me grind my teeth. We set up a very elaborate plan to get Yuuji free from his captors. This took four episodes to set up, and it strained credulity, but I stayed with it, as I watched it unfurl. It was one of those situations where you do A to get B, which helps you with C, giving you D to obtain E. None of the players are aware of all of this and it moves well enough to avoid detection. Pretty good results for a bunch of high school girls running it. Oh, and we learn who Thanandos really is.

We get to the jail break itself, which concludes in the biggest deux ex machine I have ever encountered ANYWHERE. This complete set-up takes us to Episode Eight. Episode Nine is a recap/flash forward. We jump into Episode 10 and END IT! What? I guess it’s good not to string it out, but it wrapped things up just a tad too neatly. Yuuji is 720k away from where Heath is. He has on his wrist a bomb that will go off in 2 hours, 55 minutes. He needs to get there in a big hurry. Even the fastest helicopter (CH-47F Chinook), does 315k an hour and would need to refuel twice; once if he is willing to take a chance to fly on fumes. Two hours is 630k, so by the time he arrives, he has about 22 minutes to generate all his mayhem, which he manages to do.

I feel they could have taken one more episode to make it seem less of a push to get this show over with. Is this the latest fad, to have a 10-run second (or third) season? This is the fifth time I have encountered it this year alone. And with a lot of things set up (there was an operative who had a run-in with Yuuji and wants him dead) but not followed through upon, it came off as crisp and clean, no caffeine and all is right with the world and that’s the show. You do get the satisfaction of something ending, but it just wasn’t does as well as it could have been.

One thing I will say is that this entire run is perfect for binge watching. This is one of the few shows I have seen that benefits by you chaining all of it together. Whether it is your cup of tea is another matter.

On a scale of 1 to 10:

Artwork 6 (Same artwork throughout the series)
Plot 6 (Strains credulity)
Pacing 7 (Moves along consistently)
Effectiveness 6 (Got a bit much to take in)
Conclusion 7 (It really has ended)
Fan Service 2 (A similar show would be “Okamisan”)

Overall 7 (I would have like a bit more depth)

And remember, it’s first run until you’ve seen it. It’s all on us.