Arknights: Enshin Shomei

Overall Rating 3.0 out of 10 - Season that betrays and retcons nearly everything from the original

I do not recommend watching.

Me complaining that 2nd and 3rd seasons do not live up to the original is nothing new. Sometimes it's just a minor issues and other times it's a completely deal breaking. 

Unfortunately, 3rd season of Arknights manage to do the worst disservice to the original, changing nearly everything. It's a worse fall that even Kaiji's second season. What makes it worse is the fact that with Kaiji or Gochiusa one could have a benefit of the doubt that new creative team simply misunderstood the original work and fucked up unintentionally. With 3rd season of Arknights its clearly not the case. It was a fully intentional retcon to reframe the entire story as something altogether different.

First season of Arknights was a simple but likable waifu show, much in the mold of Kancolle or Dolls Frontline. 

In addition to a collection of many cute women for every taste out there it had a simple but compelling and relatable plot. An infection called Oripathy infect certain people, giving them special abilities called arts. Common uninfected people fear the infected and discriminate against them. 

Reunion wants revenge for the mistreatment they suffered. Rhodes instead wants to find ways for everyone live in peace somehow. Very on the zeitgeist as boomers and Gen W (early Gen X) ruined economy, betrayed Millennials and stole our future. Because of that one can relate to a Reunion's cause.

In contrast Rhodes, who is a protagonist, offers a number of nice, kind, accepting and forgiving females, something real life women clearly lacking nowadays. Rhodes is clearly a waifu garden for a discerning man. 

Amiya clearly represents (or represented) all these qualities well enough. Her presence made half of the show. Rooting for Reunion to deal with all the uninfected the other.

First season was the truest to the cause, second season had some questionable parts but was on the level. Things really went south in the third one. To begin with most of the season are flashbacks. First, we see a Rhodes past. It was transformed into a fraction that fought for power in Ursus but lost, Theresia was killed and Rhodes went on to fight Reunion instead. That was followed by flashback about Talulah, who was retconned into an altruistic idealist who was helping poor and wanted to transform Ursus until loss of her best friend made her insane. All of it became inside Ursus conspiracy.

Characters and their motivations changed too. Amiya was transformed from kind and accepting girl into an enforcer of some abstract moral; creators try so hard to sell to viewers. Other characters changed too. I already explained Talulah, but doctor, Kalt'sit and Mephisto all have changed too. Patriot got a big role with his weird and contradictory ideals about who has right to speak or fight or whatnot. He is but another vehicle for authors to sell their views to public.

Until last episode I was willing to give it somewhere between 50 and 60 but conclusion was the worst possible. It was almost as if it deliberately tried to cover the bingo card of every single trope, I hate modern fiction for: justifying abuse, suffering and hardship, absurd levels of guilt, self-punishment, self-sacrifice, false justice, illogical arguments, stopping fight instead of resolving issue, avoiding the real problems and more. Causing people suffering is not making them stronger, it's a heinous crime whose perpetrators need to be stopped, by killing them if necessary.

All in all, this is unapologetic propaganda piece that tries hard to sell viewers its views and values. The question is whom these values benefit so much they would be willing to go out of their way to hamfist them into this story. The answer is old, rich and privileged. 

Story deliberately tries to blame the victim by shifting blame from society to infected themselves. Allegedly it's not the world that treats infected unfairly but rather infected themselves who supposed to live to some higher standard none around them even bother to adhere.

Who benefit from this victim blaming message this season pushes so heavily. Obviously, the crooks themselves, people who steal your money and future now telling you to learn forgiveness and acceptance, blame yourself instead of those who wronged you.

Once again, the fiction hit close to the real life. Older generations who stole wealth of the younger ones in a Financial Crisis of 2008. Now they sit in their luxurious retirement homes paid by stolen wealth and fear consequences. Reunion reminds them of these consequences. They fear Millennials will organise like Reunion and pry back that stolen wealth from boomer's cold dead hands. 

That is why older people sponsor this blatant rewriting of the story into propaganda. It is to preserve their stolen wealth and status that wealth allows them. That is why this season is not focused on changed but on preserving status quo. They might call it de-radicalisation but it's just another lie, a hypocrisy designed to protect the stolen wealth from those from whom it was stolen. Justice is not protecting status quo. Justice is taking this wealth back, not in letting the thieves keep it. 

Our lives and our futures were stolen by boomers and Gen W (early Gen X), it's time we pry that back from their cold dead hands. They did not earn any of it, its paid for by the ever-increasing rents and ever decreasing salaries. Justice demands boomers pay for their theft, lies and other crimes.

Arknights: Enshin Shomei is a sequel that betrays the original cause of the show and twists it into toxic and unlikable tale. I do not recommend watching.