[Review] Allison & Lillia - 26 (END)

[Misuzu]

Allison & Lillia - 26 (END)

「私の王子様」 (Watashi no Ouji-sama)
“My Prince”
Episode at a Glance:
Coming across the woman that led Lillia away, Allison and Treize find out that she was blackmailed and that Treize has been asked to come after Lillia alone if he wants to save her. After handing over a radio headset, the woman faints and Treize is left wondering why the culprit didn’t go after him directly when he knows of his true identity. Travas’ group then arrives and is updated on the situation, after which everyone finds out from the long-haired man (a fan of princess Matilda) that the culprit is Weasel — Prisoner #42, a criminal mastermind who was captured four years ago and is supposed to be locked away in prison for 420 years (e.g. a lifetime). With Allison suspecting that there’s someone backing him, Travas deduces that the only person who could’ve gotten Weasel out of prison legally is cabinet minister Homme, the duke of Vesa. Travas suspects that Homme is after Treize’s life so that his own son would become the only candidate for Matilda’s husband.
Frustrated that Lillia got dragged into this, Treize takes off in a car after the train, while Allison and Travas make their way to the airport to borrow a plane. With only one plane available at the moment, Allison and Travas are surprised to find out that it’s the same model that Allison first took Wil flying in. Stating that they’re off to save their daughter and the prince, Allison calls Travas “Wil” before taking off. Meanwhile, Treize manages to catch up to the train and board it by discarding his vehicle. Onboard, he quickly learns that the emergency brake has been destroyed and that the train is on an unstoppable 75km/h fixed speed. Offering himself in exchange for Lillia’s release, Treize ends up telling her that he’s the prince of Ikstova when Weasel is about to beat him to the punch. Shocked to hear this, Lillia accepts that Treize is Merielle’s unproclaimed twin brother when she realizes it’s the only explanation for what’s going on. She then confirms that Treize intended to hide this from her forever, which she is surprisingly happy about. Weasel on the other hand agrees to let Lillia go, but not before telling Treize that this is his last chance to confess his feelings. With Lillia blushing in confusion, Treize is about to confess when Allison and Travas come flying along.
With Allison flying at dangerously low altitudes, Travas informs them that the track ahead has been destroyed, which Weasel reveals is all according to plan. Hearing this, Treize states the obvious about how he’ll die as well, which Weasel shockingly reveals is also part of his plan. With the brakes destroyed, Travas considers severing their train from the lead one with a grenade launcher, but hesitates due to the difficulty of the shot. Treize then tries to take things into his own hands by sending a flurry of punches at Weasel, who easily dodges them before knocking Treize away. Taking Lillia and Treize to the roof, Weasel forces Travas to discard his gun. Travas then tell Allison to increase their altitude to avoid the forest ahead, but Allison sticks with the train and manuveurs impressively through the trees, leaving everyone in awe despite the few branches she runs into. Travas then calls out for Treize and throws him a rope ladder, which he uses to escape without Lillia. While Weasel and Lillia are shocked that Treize chose to save himself, he soon comes flying back and kicks Weasel in the face. As Lillia and Treize make their escape, Weasel grabs ahold of Treize’s leg as they near the end of the tracks. Despite Lillia’s frantic cries for Treize to take her hand, he apologizes for not being able to answer all her questions, releases the ladder, and goes plummeting into the ravine with the train.
Back in Ikstova, Axe reports that Homme has been confirmed as the culprit, so Travas tells her to exact the proper punishment. However, Treize and Weasel’s whereabouts are still unknown, which leaves Lillia struggling to hold back the tears. Trying to comfort her daughter, Allison explains that she knew about Treize’s true identity all along, but didn’t plan on telling Lillia until Treize did so himself. Upset about not being able to ask him all the things that she wanted to, Lillia is comforted by Fiona who has a feeling that Treize was protected by the goddess of luck. Some time later in Roxche, Treize suddenly shows up at Lillia’s school as a new transfer student and gets a fistful followed by a mouthful from Lillia. With both of them claiming that they still have a lot to talk about, Treize asks Lillia to the school dance, where she graciously accepts his request for a dance.




Impressions:
Amongst the flurry of [Only registered users can see links. ] I’ve been posting for the new season, Allison & Lillia’s dramatic conclusion reminds me of why I picked up this series in the first place. In what was a slightly rushed finale, “My prince… is dead!” was all that I could think of when I saw the train Treize was on barreling down the ravine. So as it turns out, Treize was the real target all along and this was just an overly convoluted plan by criminal mastermind Weasel after all. While I did have some qualms with the fact that Allison didn’t try ascending when Weasel was holding onto Treize’s leg (making it a simple matter of whose grip is stronger at that point), watching Treize let go of the ladder followed by Lillia’s reaction was a HUGE jawdropper. “TREIZE!!!” I think I would’ve been tearing up at this point if it weren’t for my firm belief that things would end happily somehow. Naturally they did, but it was completely devoid of any explanation as to how Treize survived, which is my only real complaint about the ending. I was happy that Treize managed to transfer schools to Lillia’s, take her to the school dance, and live with her as a commoner (the latter of which is the impression I got), but my lack of [Only registered users can see links. ] at that point made me unable to appreciate that scene to the fullest. Seriously, HOW did Treize survive? -__-;
Other than that, I found it funny how they made it “official” that Travas is Wil with Allison calling him by his real name here, but it was really nostalgic to see them flying together again. Despite being something that we’ve known all along, it was still pretty cool to hear Wil clearly acknowledge his true identity to us viewers. However, I was surprised that they left that fact concealed from Lillia to the very end. So while Lillia learned of Treize’s true identity as the undeclared prince of Ikstova (something that’s actually hidden from the general public as well, hence why he can use his real first name), she still doesn’t know that her father is alive. This was a bit disappointing due to the lack of closure in what was [Only registered users can see links. ] during the first half of the series (i.e. Major Stork’s revelation as Allison’s father), but went unseen in what was highly anticipated during the latter half (i.e. Major Travas’ revelation as Lillia’s father). I guess that was overshadowed by the fact that Treize never really confessed to Lillia either, but the ending does indicate well enough the decision he’s made for himself.

Final Impression:
For a series with a 90’s look and feel, Allison & Lillia really screamed “adventure” to me every mini arc. The amiable characters and conspiracy-ridden plots were definitely the best parts of the series, with nothing feeling convoluted in the slightest. There were a lot of hints and subtleties story-wise along the way, which actually made it one of the more difficult shows for me to blog. Because of this, I felt that the series definitely had something worthwhile to tell, seeing as it couldn’t be summariezd in a paragraph or two if one truly hoped to capture the essence of it. In other words, there was definitely good content. Looking back on the series, it really feels like we’ve come a long way since the introduction of Allison and Wil. Reminiscent of the large timeframe encompassed in [Only registered users can see links. ], I felt that Allison & Lillia did a much better job with the continuity between time skips. The major one of course being the end of Allison’s arc and the [Only registered users can see links. ], where the short narration by Lillia really help the transistion. With that said, there’s a lot to say about a series that can be this captivating without relying on sci-fi, magic, or any other “gimmicky” premises. Relying only on its characters and realistic story in a world that resembles our own, Allison & Lillia really establishes as the type of series I’d love to see more of. As such, I’m a bit sad to see it end, but it’s been a fun ride (in planes and trains) the entire way.

Cast:
- Lillia (リリア) / [Only registered users can see links. ] (水樹 奈々)
- Trieze (トレイズ) / [Only registered users can see links. ] (吉野 裕行)
- Allison (アリソン) / [Only registered users can see links. ] (桑島 法子)
- Travas (トラヴァス) / [Only registered users can see links. ] (森川 智之)
- Wil (reminiscence) (ヴィル(回想)) / [Only registered users can see links. ] (くまい まとこ)
- Benedict (ベネディクト) / [Only registered users can see links. ] (山寺 宏一)
- Fiona (フィオナ) / [Only registered users can see links. ] (能登 麻美子)
- Weasel (ウィーゼル) / [Only registered users can see links. ] (川島 得愛)
- Axe (アックス) / [Only registered users can see links. ] (豊口 めぐみ)
- Matilda (マティルダ) / [Only registered users can see links. ] (藤村 知可)
- Merielle (メリエル) / [Only registered users can see links. ] (斎藤 千和)
- Ozette (オゼット) / [Only registered users can see links. ] (星野 充昭)
- Izuma (イズマ) / [Only registered users can see links. ] (西凛 太郎)
- Uno (ウーノ) / [Only registered users can see links. ] (小林 俊夫)
- Ed (エド) / Konno Jun (金野 潤)
- Long-haired Man (長髪の男) / [Only registered users can see links. ] (風間 勇刀)
- Middle-age woman (中年女性) / Komiyama Eri (小宮山 絵理)

[jasar]

i dont whacted yet

[seracx3]

omg the part when treize let go of the rope on the train made me cry
loved ittt

[Vegiepatch]

I liked the series on a whole, but I felt the Allison part was far better than the Lillia part.